Please consider joining me in spirit as I prepare to go to Israel with a small group of 10 people, led by a fellow RNC member, to meet with the people of Israel. I am asking that you join my support team back here in the U.S. by helping to sponsor this trip. We will be purchasing items in Israel (rather than taking them along) to help kids and families affected by the attack and were displaced from their homes. I depart on Saturday, Nov. 25 and will be returning to the U.S. on Sunday, Dec. 3 which is right around the corner.

Although this is only a quasi-official visit with privileged access to top leadership and sites which would normally be off-limits to most people, it is not an officially sanctioned trip. However, we will come back with much to tell and help get the word out.

We will be traveling to various parts of the country but while we are in Jerusalem, we will visit the Western Wall where I plan to insert written prayers for anyone who is a member of my support team and contacts me with a prayer request. Each prayer request will be handled and prayed over individually. In addition, we will spend one day volunteering and delivering locally purchased items to displaced families as well as making sandwiches for members of the IDF.

In addition to visiting with family members of the affected, we will be meeting with people in government leadership including current and former members of Israeli Intelligence agencies, current IDF senior staff, members of the Knesset and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It has been requested that we meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but there are no guarantees we will be able to do so given the rapidly changing situation. Nonetheless, I remain optimistic that we will indeed get to meet with him as well.

In addition to meeting with officials in the government, intelligence community, and the military, we will be traveling south to the Gaza border and will visit Sderot which is one of the towns attacked. We will also visit the Ashkelon-Berzelai hospital which was hit by a rocket attack and is caring for many of the wounded today. As we get close to the area of hostilities, we will be provided with protective body armor and will travel the area inside specialized armored vehicles.

The following day, we will head north to Kiryat Shimona near the border of Lebanon and Syria. The current plan calls for us to visit at least one IDF base and see an Iron Dome facility depending on the ground situation at the time.

So, will you join me as a financial backer and get a firsthand account of this trip after I return?