A Netherlands-based Christian organization has planted 150,000 tulips in Israel, including more than 50,000 that are blooming throughout the Gaza border area, the group said on Monday.
The annual “tulip tour,” which has been running for the last quarter century, was shipped and planted nationwide by Christian supporters of Israel from the Netherlands at the end of November and is now starting to bloom in southern Israel.
More than a third of the red, orange, yellow and white bulbs are now dotting the Gaza border landscape, with a special emphasis placed this year in areas of the south and north that were affected by the war. The bulbs planted in the Golan Heights will need a little more time to bloom.
“These places that suffered the most need a little more attention,” Johan van der Ham, the project coordinator with Christians for Israel (CVI), told JNS.
He said that the tulip project was a gift of love, light and friendship for the Jewish people.
“If you look at the media, you think Israel is surrounded by enemies all over the world,” he said. “But there are thousands upon thousands of Christians who are praying for you and the peace of Jerusalem and are sending this message of support.”
Leon Meijer, executive director of Christians for Israel International, told JNS, “There is something special about bending your knees and touching the soil and together planting a bulb in the ground.
“You will be reminded that there are people who love Israel and the Jewish people,” he said.
