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AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) — Aurora City Council Member Danielle Jurinsky will head to Israel in March and spend eight days serving there while the country continues its part in the war in Gaza.
Jurinsky's heritage is Jewish. She said there is a need for help in Israel while an entire generation of young people, conscripted in the Israeli military, are serving on the front line.
"This is absolutely in my personal capacity. This is going to help the business community," Jurinsky said.
The Aurora council member will fund her trip to the Middle East. She is going to something akin to a "kibbutz," which is Hebrew for "gathering."
"It's just kind of a like a community living arrangement," Jurinsky said.
While the war with Hamas rages on in Gaza, Jurinsky will serve in another capacity, far from the front line.
Danielle Jurinsky (KDVR)
In Israel, 'nobody is working the businesses'
"Everybody serves in the military — it is mandatory, whether you're a man or a woman," Jurinsky said. "At 18, you will give two years' worth of service, and then you kind of just stay in the Israeli reserves until you age out."
With so many young Israelis serving in the military, other tasks aren't getting done. Enter Jurinsky and others like her.
"With the amount of lives already lost and with everybody, most of the country out fighting this war, nobody is working the businesses," Jurinsky said. "Nobody is out picking crops in the fields, nobody's running manufacturing, production, nobody's answering the phones, opening their small businesses."
Jurinsky serves on the Aurora City Council, but she is also a mother and a business owner. That aspect of the need in Israel appealed to her call to action there.
"I will be very busy working," Jurinsky said. "I was asked if I can at least do seven hours a day of labor-intensive work, and I said, 'Listen, if I'm flying all the way over there to try and help, I'm in for 12-hour shifts."
Jurinsky said only one task as a member of the Aurora council has to be rescheduled when she travels to the Middle East: a policy meeting with her council colleagues.
80% displaced in Palestinian territory
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages. About a fourth of some 130 captives still being held are believed to be dead.
Israel has laid waste to much of the Palestinian territory in response, with some 80% of the population of 2.3 million from their homes. Gaza’s Health Ministry estimates more than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed.
Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 67 Palestinians overnight and into Wednesday, including in areas where civilians have been told to seek refuge.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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