Miraculously escaping Hezbollah rocket attack

In what people are calling a miracle, a South African group that planned to hold a ceremony at the “South African Forest” in the north of Israel on 23 September escaped with their lives after Hezbollah rockets rained down on the very spot.

The group, led by the Jewish National Fund South Africa (JNF SA), were on a solidarity mission to Israel and were planning to commemorate the 10 South Africans who have died since 7 October, including Daniel Perez. They decided at the eleventh hour to hold the ceremony at Perez’s grave in Jerusalem instead, in light of Hezbollah’s attacks in the north. That decision saved the lives of the 100 people, including many South African olim, who planned to attend the ceremony from all over Israel.

They are just a few of the many people affected by the increasing tensions with Hezbollah, which has now seen Israel take a proactive approach with its Operation Arrows of the North. Olim who have previously been spared Hezbollah rockets are now experiencing attacks. South African olah Yael Lacob, who has lived in Israel for 30 years, saw her neighbour’s house go up in flames in a direct hit. Her village had previously never been in the line of fire.

“We live in Moreshet, in the lower Galilee,” says Lacob, speaking to the SA Jewish Report from her home, which was damaged. “It is usually a very tranquil, peaceful place. Even since 7 October, it’s been very quiet here. On Saturday night [21 September] there were two sirens in the middle of the night, and at about 06:20 in the morning [22 September], there was another siren. My husband, daughter, and I quickly ran to the safe room.

“About 20 seconds later, we heard a huge boom. The whole house shook and we heard glass shattering. So we knew that it was very close to us. We waited for a few minutes and then we heard shouts outside. It turned out that our neighbour’s house had a direct hit and it was on fire. They were in their safe room and escaped uninjured.

“Very quickly, the fire trucks came and many people came to help put out the fire. Another missile landed one street below us and houses were damaged, but in both hits, thank goodness, no-one was injured.” Most of the windows in Lacob’s house were shattered, window blinds were blown out of their frames, and tiles blew off the roof.

“Despite the very frightening experience, we’re blessed to be in a very supportive community. Whenever help is needed, there’s always someone to turn to,” she says. “We’ve also got lots of support from Telfed and the South African community in Israel. Despite the problems, Israel is home and we’re very happy and blessed to be here, and happy and blessed to be okay and not injured.”

A South African olah who doesn’t want to be named because her children are in senior positions in the army says, “I’m in Kiryat Tivon and we have been in and out of the safe room since the early hours of Sunday morning. There were two direct hits in Tivon today [23 September] and so many more intercepted. It’s crazy here. I’ve lived here for 17 years and I’m terrified. We’ve had one bombardment before, but nothing like this. We’ve had so many rockets in the last few hours, but thank G-d for the Iron Dome.”

One rocket fell close to her house. “It felt like it was in my garden, but it was actually across the highway in front of my house. It was strong enough to blow out all the windows of a house 10 houses away. Shrapnel from intercepted rockets has rained down on the entire neighbourhood.”

Sid Kaplan is a founding member of Moshav Manof in the southern Galilee. “The situation is beyond words,” he says. “As we don’t have a bomb shelter, we were forced to leave and come down to my brother in Kfar Saba. On the way down, we had to stop on the highway and lie on the ground as two rockets exploded above us. Wherever you are is like playing Russian roulette. The situation is extremely dangerous, and very surreal.”

Shelley Liss Barkan has remained in her evacuated town of Shlomi, saying she will never leave. She teaches at a school in nearby Kabri, close to Nahariyah. “The pupils have been greatly affected,” she says. “There are children that shake, cry, faint and vomit every time an alarm goes off. They have completely lost their concentration, and emotionally there are many problems.”

She is still running the large kitchen that she voluntarily runs to feed soldiers hot meals. “It gives me an aim and something to do – it helps. We now have thousands of soldiers in the north and we have so many requests for food that we are overwhelmed.”

Telfed chairperson Maish Isaacson says, “Telfed staff and volunteers have been calling residents of the north on a regular basis since October, in addition to personal visits. We are here for them. We saw from our calls and visits to olim in the south how important these calls are – they have not been forgotten and we know they are dealing with immense trauma and stress.

“We also reiterate the importance of following the guidelines from the Home Front Command,” says Isaacson. “The language barrier is daunting for olim, which is why Telfed is working in close co-operation with the Home Front Command and has created a WhatsApp group where we share all the guidelines in English, directly from the official source.”

As for the South African group that escaped the barrage, JNF SA executive committee member Saul Jassinowsky explains that at the ceremony, the group were going to donate equipment to the firefighters battling the raging flames resulting from the rocket attacks. Instead, the firefighters found themselves battling a blaze in the very forest where the handover was to have taken place. However, the donated equipment will still make its way to them.

JNF SA chairperson Michael Kransdorff says they had been preparing for months to hold the ceremony at the forest’s memorial monument for fallen South Africans. “When we realised the area had been hit, we were shocked. It really brought it home that it could have been us.”

Jassinowsky says that, “We are in the land of miracles and the land of protection, and with everything going on, we couldn’t feel more safe or more protected. I’m a strong believer in divine providence, and we landed up exactly where we were meant to be.

“We are also launching an initiative to replant the Be’eri Forest, which was destroyed on 7 October,” he says. “Everyone is invited to join us in planting trees in the names of those who were killed on or since 7 October. The forest was the site of the Nova festival and the land is steeped in blood. But as Jews, we commit to renewal. We plant, we grow, we rebuild – and therein lies our strength.”