Timothy Ballard’s career in anti-human trafficking began nearly two decades ago, when he left Homeland Security to search for a kidnapped child in Haiti. His nonprofit, Operation Underground Railroad, has since rescued thousands from slavery and abuse.
Now, Ballard is in the Middle East, focusing on vulnerable minorities in southern Syria. He says the crisis is far worse than what the West is hearing.
“The most beautiful and shocking thing that I didn’t expect to find, fully deployed, been there for months and months, was the IDF… humanitarians, soldiers, medical personnel, taking care of these people,” Ballard told ILTV.
SAVING LIVES
Ballard says his team works closely with U.S. and Israeli officials but operates independently, allowing them to move quickly. In Syria, they’ve brought in provisions, evacuated victims, and documented the IDF’s forward-deployed aid missions — something he says contradicts the “predatory Israel” narrative.
Next, Ballard plans to enter Gaza, where he believes Hamas is the primary oppressor of Palestinian children.
“I cannot imagine being a child in Gaza, being given a fake gun and being told, ‘Kill the Jews, kill the Jews.’ And then when the leaflets come from Israel saying, ‘Get out because we have to bomb, because we have to get our children out,’ and they try to run, and they are being used as human shields, and Hamas starts shooting them. These people are oppressed first and foremost by Hamas,” Ballard said.
He says his goal is to rescue those children so Israel isn’t forced into impossible moral choices — either risk harming innocents or leave its own citizens in captivity.
Ballard’s bottom line: view every conflict through the eyes of a suffering child. From that perspective, he says, the truth about who’s helping — and who’s harming — becomes impossible to ignore.