Sara Branscome flew from New Jersey to her home in The Villages on Monday. There was something she had to do before opening the front door.
“I couldn’t walk in until the Israeli flag was up,” said Branscome, who was born in Tel Aviv and raised in Israel. “I needed to see that flag on my house before I went into my home.”
Israel will always be a part of Branscome, and it’s the same for countless Israeli-Americans. Those in The Villages are hoping to soon publicly demonstrate their support for Israel.
The surprise attacks by Hamas over the weekend has already killed 900 Israelis, with more than 2,000 wounded, according to Israel Defense Forces. Another 150 were being held as hostages, according to the Israeli government.
Eleven Americans have been killed in Israel, according to President Biden, and more may be held as hostages.
Television screens, computer web sites and news sites have been filled with horrific stories and pictures detailing barbaric cruelty and heartbreaking loss.
News consumption is an emotionally distant activity. For Israelis, however, such destruction, death and tragedy is deeply personal.
“All Jewish people feel that Israel is part of them,” said Branscome, who came to America in 1974. She and her husband –Dennis – moved to The Villages about 11 years ago.
Branscome has tried to avoid watching the attacks and aftermath on television.
“I refuse to look at TV,” she said. “I read newspapers and news web sites to try and understand what’s going on.”
War is nothing new for Israel, but this is something different, Branscome said. “We’re not fighting a country; we’re not fighting an army.
“I lived through two wars (there), but this is not a war,” she added. “It’s personal. You see faces of innocent people –children and the elderly – getting killed. As a mother and grandmother, it’s horrifying.”
It’s even more difficult being away from her homeland. Israel is a small country, she said, and she gets calls constantly from friends and relatives back home. Her cell phone is filled with messages of support from Villagers and others who know her.
“I feel so helpless here,” Branscome said. “I wish I was there so I could help and do something more.”
Another Villager, who asked to use her first name only – Iris — shares that sentiment.
“This is terrible and ever since it started, it’s like 24-7, it never stops,” she said. “My heart aches and I feel pain all the time.
“I can’t sleep at night. The other night I woke up at 3 in the morning and had to turn on the news. I’m worried so much.”
Iris, who left Israel to come to The Villages a couple of years ago, has been encouraged by support from those who live here.
“The people in The Villages have been great,” she said. “Everybody I know has offered their support. I get constant messages on my phone. People in The Villages are amazing.”
She also gets calls from friends and family in Israel and Iris’ feeling about Palestinians and Hamas have changed radically over the past few days.
“Until these attacks, I had sympathy,” she said, adding that at one time she felt that maybe negotiations could make things better.
“But how do you negotiate with people who dedicate their lives to killing Jews. There’s no chance for peace.”
Palestinians and those living in the Gaza Strip – where the attacks originated – will pay a heavy price. Israel has ordered a siege of Gaza, blocking deliveries of food, water and fuel. At least 687 Palestinians have been killed, and at least 3,726 injured according to the New York Times.
There is innocent suffering on both sides, but Hamas’ brutality has been magnified. Nearly 260 young people were murdered at a music festival in Israel over the weekend. Bono and his band U2, paid tribute to them during a concert Sunday in Las Vegas.
U2 performed the song “Pride (In the Name of Love)” and dedicated it to those killed at the music festival. Bono changed the words to the song and referred to those victims as “stars of David” in the newly written lyrics.
In the light of what’s happened in Israel and Gaza, a song about non-violence seems somewhat ridiculous, even laughable, but our prayers have always been for peace and for non-violence…
But our hearts and our anger, you know where that’s pointed. So sing with us… and those… pic.twitter.com/S1zfCMNtzz
— U2 (@U2) October 9, 2023
All this suffering and loss has come at an emotional price for those with ties to Israel.
“I don’t want to hate people,” Branscome said. “When you see people killing children and 80-year-old grandmothers, it’s hard not to hate.”
Iris added: “To do what (Hamas) has done; it’s hard to understand that kind of hatred.”
Shock is another emotion.
“The biggest shock is that this could happen to Israel,” Iris said. She added that there was a kind of pact between Israel and its people that the government and the IDF would protect them. “It was a promise,” Branscome said.
Now, “all we can do is ache and feel the pain for mothers, fathers and families who have lost loved ones. You don’t want to look but, I can’t turn away from what is happening. I just want to cry.”
Israel is a small country, and “everybody knows somebody who was hurt or killed,” Branscome said.
Like the attacks of 9/11 in America, the attacks on Israel have lasting consequences, Branscome believes.
“People — the whole country – have been psychologically traumatized,” she said, adding that like 9/11, “that wound will always be there. Israel will recover, but it will never be the same.”