For decades, Syrians were taught to see Israel as the enemy. Then, as Syria descended into a brutal civil war, something extraordinary happened: Israel began bringing wounded Syrian civilians across the border for lifesaving medical care.

Lt. Col. (res.) Eyal Dror was the commander of Operation Good Neighbor, the IDF’s remarkable humanitarian mission that carried out some 700 operations and provided medical care, food, clothing, fuel, and other assistance to Syrians living just across Israel’s border. And every mission carried real risks, with ISIS, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, and other armed groups operating nearby.

In this episode, Pastor Doug Reed and Rabbi Pesach Wolicki speak with Lt. Col. Dror about why Israel chose to help people raised to hate it, the Syrian civilians whose encounters with Israelis transformed their perceptions of the Jewish state, the Christian organizations that worked alongside the IDF, and the difficult moral decisions Dror and his soldiers faced along the way.

They also discuss what Operation Good Neighbor teaches about Israel and Jewish values, and what Dror believes Israel got wrong in its more recent approach to the Druze community in Syria.