Hope Through It All

To advocate for their community, Raz Malka and his friends founded Lobby 1701 to create a lasting peace in the North and to provide hope through it all.

It was the middle of the funeral!” 24-year-old Raz Malka exclaimed, recalling the first day of Hezbollah’s attacks on his home city after October 7. He and his family were at the Kiryat Shmona cemetery burying his cousin, who was killed while valiantly fighting Hamas on October 7th, when the first Hezbollah missiles exploded in the graveyard. “A lot of people had left the city, but we had stayed that week to sit shiva,” Raz recalled, “and the missiles were launched right at the cemetery.” Unfortunately, this wasn’t Raz’s first experience with war, but after that day it was the first time that his city was evacuated due to the extreme threats posed by missiles and even the potential for armed invasion. A child during the Second Lebanon War, Raz has grappled with PTSD, but is determined not to let anything stop him from helping the North rebuild and thrive.

“If you put aside the security situation, the North is like a piece of heaven. The quiet, the nature, it’s a good life,” Raz says wistfully about his dreams for a more peaceful future. Now, more than a year and a half after those first missiles were launched, more than 50% of Kiryat Shmona’s homes and structures have been damaged. Raz’s own father’s house was completely destroyed by multiple direct hits. “It’s horrible to go to the city you grew up in and see that nobody is there,” he said. “It was a ghost town.” Raz described the terror that gripped the city and the way it emptied out even before the official evacuation orders. “On October 7, we heard what was happening in the South and we were prepared for a full attack. We barricaded the doors to our home and prepared for the worst. People were scared. They didn’t wait, and they didn’t trust that anyone would come help, so they fled.”

Raz and two friends realized that it was up to them to step up and advocate for their community, so they founded an organization called Lobby 1701 which demands the implementation of UN Resolution 1701, calling for a permanent ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel as well as a demilitarized zone between the two nations. They now number more than 30,000 members from across social, religious, and political lines. “We felt like the North was forgotten until we raised our voices. Our goal is to make a permanent solution so that we can live in peace.” Raz and his fellow Lobby 1701 members believe that creative solutions that allow northern Israel to feel secure depend on supporting a viable future where Lebanese people can thrive without Hezbollah and where they can sustain their own successful future.

“Everyone has the power to make a difference,” says Raz. He is not just a believer; he is a doer who is determined to chart a better future for his community. Thanks to Jewish National Fund-USA’s partnership, he and his peers are doing just that. With dreams of a better future for the battered region, Raz and other young professionals from the North came to the United States to share their stories with Jewish National Fund-USA audiences. The reception, the warmth, and the love that they received would allow them to go home full of renewed optimism as they help bring the organization’s Reimagine Plan to life.

“We worked with Jewish National Fund-USA throughout the year to do everything we could so that the people of the north were strong and resilient,” Raz said. “Many other organizations focused only on the South; the North seemed like it was invisible. It was important for me to go to the U.S. so that people there could not only hear our stories but see our faces, too.” Raz was accompanied by Gal Amir, a mother of four from Kibbutz Snir, just 15 minutes away from Kiryat Shmona.

Gal was deeply moved by the reception they received as well and emphasized the important impact that Jewish National Fund-USA supporters make, “Americans, especially those involved with Jewish National Fund-USA, have a crucial role to play. First: your recognition matters. It gives us strength to keep going.

“Second, your support enables real impact. Every act plants the seeds for renewal.” Most importantly, Gal wants people to know that the North still has a bright future. “I believe in the people of the North. I believe in what we can build together. And I am deeply grateful to all of you who have chosen to walk this path with us.”

Raz, who is living in Herzeliya while he studies at the Lauder School of Government Diplomacy and Strategy at Reichman University, but travels back to his home city frequently added: “This is our mission. This is what we must do. This is our time to build everything better. I’m sure that Israel will soon find itself in a very good place. Yes, we will find ourselves in a good place soon.”

To learn more, visit jnf.org/supportisrael