'I felt guilty leaving,' says Dutch volunteer Gert Van Vliet after returning to Israel with his family

Gert Van Vliet, a volunteer from the Netherlands with Christian Friends of Israel (CFI) in Jerusalem, leads the “Communities Under Attack” project. He spoke with Christian journalist Paul Calvert and shared how times of conflict are exactly when Israel needs “unconditional” Christian support.

Van Vliet arrived in September 2024 with his wife and four children. Despite the ongoing war with Iranian proxy terror groups, he was sure they were doing the right thing.

“We weren’t afraid because we felt like [we were sent] by God,” he said in the interview with Calvert.

Van Vliet explained that he happened to be in Israel for a brief visit when the Hamas invasion and massacres took place, on Oct. 7, 2023, but he didn’t want to leave. 

“When I left Israel at that time, I felt really as a bad shepherd, you know, leaving the flock in danger in a war and you go back to the Netherlands and you are safe,” he confessed.

“I felt really guilty, so I started praying at that time if we should come back to Israel.”

Van Vliet said it is understandable that some of his relatives and friends didn’t grasp their decision to return to Israel, as a family of six, to volunteer with CFI.

“But for me,” he added, “being in God’s will, it’s the most safe place where you can ever be.”

CFI has been helping restore Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the worst-hit communities on the morning of Oct. 7, when approximately 340 armed terrorists from Gaza infiltrated the area.

Van Vliet and two teammates recently traveled to Be’eri to help in the animal farm there.

“[We went] just to clean up the cages of the birds [and] animals,” he said. “And we do as much as we can to –just to help them and to give them a taste of love.”

All of the surviving residents were evacuated but the animals are still there, Van Vliet explained. While many of the animals fled from the terrorists and were lost, “there are still many reptiles to be taken care of... even though there is no life in the kibbutz.”

Calvert asked whether the returning survivors have shared their stories with him.

“Yes, some people are really traumatized, but the ones we spoke with, they really opened their heart to tell the story,” the warm Dutchman replied.

“For them it’s a kind of healing to just express themselves, [what] they went through. So we went there with a listening ear, just to listen to them. There are no words for these terrible atrocities, what happened there…”

“There are no words to... yeah, we can comfort them, but it’s hard to find words,” he admitted. “So, the ears are the best tool for them in this moment, to comfort them.”

Out of the “too many” heartbreaking stories of destroyed homes and lives, one stood out for Van Vliet: the moment he found himself standing in front of the Sharabi family’s home. At that time, Eli Sharabi was still being held in Hamas captivity.

“And he didn't know that his two daughters and wife were killed in that moment (when the kibbutz was attacked), and that really touched my heart.”

“I was crying there in the front of his home.”

Many of the homes were destroyed on that ‘Black Sabbath,’ during the Hamas attack. The rebuilding will take at least another two years and the residents are divided regarding the desire to return.

“It’s still a battle in their minds whether they return or not,” Van Vliet explained.

CFI is also helping to restore the community of Nahal Oz, which suffered less destruction than Be’eri, largely due to the presence of a nearby army base.

“So there was, on this specific day, a unit there. There was actually a miracle that there was a unit there [in training],” he said. “So they fought the terrorists and, it’s sad to say [‘only’], but only 15 civilians died there.” (Be’eri lost 106 people, with another 30 taken hostage.)

The team also helped a family move from one place to another inside the kibbutz.

“They really feel like that they need to start living there again, but they had terrorists in their home, so for them, their house became a traumatic experience,” Van Vliet said, recounting the miracle of how the family survived.

“They had terrorists in their homes, and the terrorists didn’t see their doors. They were both sides of the house where there were safe rooms.”

“The son was in the left safe room, a couple in the other one, but they didn’t approach the doors. They didn’t see the doors!”

Van Vliet explained that this was a “big testimony,” since the family prayed and trusted in God for their survival that day. “And now, because of this testimony, they want to come back to this place and we are helping them with that,” he added.

“We believe that God promised this land to the Jews – to Israel,” Van Vliet explained. “And, you know, we see around the borders that the enemy doesn’t want them in Israel.”

“And we as Bible-believing Christians, this is our time to stand with them in their communities, to help them unconditionally.” 

Click below to listen to the full interview.

For more info about CFI's various projects, including ‘Communities Under Attack,’ and ‘Under His Wings,’ which supports traumatized victims of terror, visit their website at CFIJerusalem.org.