Student Ari Spielman traveled to Israel to study for his masterās degree in environmental science just days before Hamas attacked Israel; now he is the co-founder of a student-run humanitarian organization providing much-needed supplies to displaced families caught in the Israel-Palestine war.
Operation manna was founded less than a week ago and just received its non-profit status. Spielman told Fox News, āEveryone was leaving, but I felt like I needed to do something.ā
āI wanted to help,ā he added, noting, āThe damage was massive, and there was hundreds of thousands of people displaced and that within Israel.ā
Operation manna shares a name connected to the Allied Forcesā World War II effort that literally dropped food from the sky to feed the Dutch, per Time Magazine. The British called it āOperation manna,ā and the U.S. titled it āOperation Chowhound.ā
During his interview with Fox News, Spielman did not reference the WWII effort, but he did explain that this new Operation manna project was formed when he left his apartment and went to Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv.
It was there that he found groups of people gathering and collecting supplies to help those in need. This inspired him to help.
He began going around the area and connecting with other international students to create their own effort. Like Spielman, many of the students involved in Operation manna are not Israeli but wanted to do something.
Spielman stated, āWe wanted to feel like we were doing something because sitting around in our houses was not productive, and it made us feel terrible.ā
He and the other students decided to create ādirect aidā and go straight to ādrop sitesā to give displaced families the supplies they need in this uncertain time.
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He also noted the donations that have already begun coming in from the United States are helping. Anyone who wishes to offer support can donate through the organizationās Linktree.