Joel Chernoff went to sleep in Israel on October 6 of last year and woke up to a war.
As the executive director of the Joseph Project International, one of the largest non-governmental organizations aiding the Jewish state, Chernoff immediately went to work.
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In the months since the terrorist group Hamas attacked Israel, the JPI has provided tens of thousands of meals, equipment for the Israeli military, and other resources to the country. There’s one major threat, though, facing Israel, and it isn’t earning a great deal of media attention: the possibility of an attack on the country’s power grid.
That concern has been heightened by the looming threat of war with Iran and its terrorist group proxies, like Hezbollah, according to our recent reporting. In late June, one senior state electricity official, Shaul Goldstein, claimed — with some pushback — a cyberattack to Israel’s power grid could cripple the small nation in just a matter of days, according to The Times of Israel.
It’s important to note there have been some reports suggesting Iran has supplied Hezbollah with electromagnetic pulse weapons, or EMPs. Those alleged weapons, should they be deployed, “could destroy all communications systems, including the electricity infrastructure,” in Israel, Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida reported after hearing from an unnamed Iranian source.
If that happens, such an attack could potentially “incapacitate the country,” Chernoff told CBN News.
WATCH our full conversation with Chernoff below:
“That threat has been leveled — it’s been pushed out there — and so the Joseph Project International … has been ramping up and purchasing generators that can be positioned around the country … so that there’s a plan B for many of these communities around the country,” he explained, noting providing generators in key locations throughout Israel would help “keep things moving operationally” if a cyberattack occurred.
Each generator comes with a roughly $10,000 price tag and is capable of propping up “essential services,” Chernoff added, further explaining the JPI has a strategically located warehouse in Jerusalem and a vast network of delivery vehicles throughout the country, all ready to distribute generators and other supplies as needed.
As a humanitarian organization with messianic interests, the Joseph Project International is concerned with more than just supplying for Israelis’ physical needs. The JPI, Chernoff said, has become a supplier of goods and resources to messianic groups in the country.
He went on to explain that, while Israel has strict laws against proselytizing, workers with those organizations don’t shy away from sharing the Gospel when they are asked about it.
“People ask and, if they ask, it isn’t considered proselytizing,” he said. “If somebody asks us about [our faith], we share. As a result, many, many people have come to faith — not directly as a result of us sharing but perhaps [because] of people on the street there inside of Israel.”
“The important thing is that God has said to us, ‘Put your shoulder under the national burden of poverty,’ which is a huge issue in Israel and has been exacerbated by COVID and by this war,” Chernoff said. “We are there to meet needs and to show the compassionate heart of the Messiah to our people and, if they ask us about it, then we share. But other than that, we are there to open our hearts to serve — that is the key thing — and we do so within the bounds of the law and we do so for the honor and glory of the God of Israel and the Messiah, Yeshua.”
As the possibility of yet another attack against Israel approaches, help from organizations like the JPI is welcomed by the Jewish people, whom Chernoff described as “united” to do what must be done to survive.
“It seems as if the world is ganging up on Israel — they don’t want Israel to win; they want the terrorists to survive,” he said. “Israel really cannot live with the terrorists on their border anymore and it presents a really difficult situation politically. It shouldn’t, but it does.”
Despite the fog of uncertainty, Chernoff is hopeful about the future of Israel, because he is confident in what Scripture has to say about the Jewish state, God’s chosen people (Deuteronomy 7:6).
He referenced Isaiah 54:17, which states, in part, “[No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed,” referring to Israel and, more broadly, the Christian church.
“Yes, it is a difficult road,” Chernoff said. “Our people on the ground feel that they are increasingly alone in the world, except for the support of evangelical Christians around the world, and especially in the United States. They feel that support, and they’re grateful for it.”
At the same time, though, Chernoff said Israelis are, to an extent, feeling abandoned by President Joe Biden’s administration, which he — echoing the words of several Republican lawmakers and Israel’s own prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu — characterized as “slow walking” its delivery of necessary resources.
“This is going to be a long-term project,” he explained, referring to the defeat of the terrorist groups seeking to destroy the Jewish nation. “And the state of Israel needs the support of the U.S. to actually continue prosecuting the war. But even if they don’t get the U.S.’s support, they have God’s support, which is the most important thing.”
WATCH: US Military Deploys Vast Arsenal to Middle East
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