Grandma's army

  The brothers Elchanan and Menachem Klemanson, and their nephew Itiels’ entry into the carnage at Kibbutz Be’eri began on   Saturday, October 7, when news began to spread that a major security incident was underway in southern Israel. As more details emerged, it became clear that large numbers of Hamas and other Gazan terrorists had entered Israel from Gaza and were attacking nearby communities. The three Reservists, at the initiative of Elchanan, (a captain in the Israeli army),   left their homes to help save the lives of Gaza border residents. Equipped with bulletproof vests and M16 rifles, they rescued dozens of kibbutz Be’eri residents from the hands of Hamas terrorists, before Elhanan was killed. “With extraordinary courage they saved   entire families”.                                                   ...

From the burning of the fields in 2018 in kibbutz Be’eri,  to burning families in kibbutz Be’eri on October 7 th , 2023 .                                                                                                   In 1978, when Simcha my oldest daughter got married, she and her husband went to live in the second moshav (agricultural settlement), Gannai Tal, to be established   in Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip . Since the houses had not yet been built, the other married members lived together as bachelors in one building, in order to work on their farms. On weekends they went to their respective homes. Simcha and her husband, Gideon, were newly-weds so they started their married ...

  My family has had quite a long history with the Gaza Strip. My husband and I joined a newly formed moshav in the Negev, seven kms. from Gaza in 1960, where my four children grew up. My oldest son, who is a farmer, and his four married children, plus his youngest unmarried daughter, still live there with their growing families In 1949, Arab terrorists, known as Fedayeen were trained and equipped by Egyptian Intelligence to engage in hostile action on the border, and infiltrate Israel - to commit acts of sabotage and murder. The Fedayeen operated mainly from bases in Jordan, so that Jordan would bear the brunt of Israel’s retaliation, which inevitably followed. The terrorist attacks violated the armistice agreement provision that prohibited the initiation of hostilities by paramilitary forces – nevertheless, it was Israel that was condemned by the UN Security Council for its counter-attacks!   Since then, terrorism from Gaza has “rocketed”. We have experienced it all: su...