Minnesotans with ties to Israel, Gaza react to war
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Updated: Oct. 13, 4:54 p.m. | Posted: Oct 12, 9:45 a.m.
Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the death toll among Israelis and Palestinians has continued to climb, with civilians bearing the brunt of what has become — in just a few days — a devastating war.
Like people around the globe, Minnesotans with loved ones in the region are scrambling for information and sharing stories with common themes: dodging bombs, losing contact and fearing the worst.
‘We are intertwined. We have always been intertwined.’
Mahmoud Shahin moved to Minnesota in 1986 for college from Halhul, Palestine, and worked as a teacher before opening Mim’s Café, a Middle Eastern eatery near University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus.
In 2006, his family moved back to Halhul because Shahin wanted his children to attend school there to learn the culture “to be ambassadors between the East and the West.”
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They own a 10-acre grape farm there, so Shahin splits his year between St. Paul and Halhul between his two businesses.
Shahin was supposed to return to Palestine later this month before an arm surgery delayed plans.
Now, he waits from afar, glued to the news.
“I feel, even if I didn't have my arm wrapped, I don't think I could do much work. It is paralyzing,” he said. “It is very sad, constantly saying ‘OK, did they stop the war? Did they stop the bombing? Did they find the solution?’”
Halhul is on Palestine’s West Bank, away from the bombings, so his family is safe. But people in Halhul can see missile strikes on Gaza from their rooftops. Schools and markets are closed, food prices at supermarkets are high. The war is devastating for both Israelis and Palestinians, Shahin said.
“We are intertwined. We have always been intertwined. You know, the Jews and Palestinians have always been intertwined. At the end of the day, we share the same economy, we share the same land. And also the land — there's plenty for all of us.”
'Our family's homes were bombarded:' Minnesotan worries for loved ones in Gaza
Taher Herzallah is a graduate student at the University of Minnesota and Director of outreach and community organizing for American Muslims for Palestine. He has family in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza, which was bombarded this week.
“After about 24 hours of communication being dark, I just received information this morning that two of our family’s homes were bombarded,” Herzallah said. “Thankfully they were not at home when this took place, but those homes are completely destroyed and now they are displaced.”
He said loved ones are jumping from home to home as Israeli air strikes destroy one house after another.
“There is no safe haven,” Herzallah said. “There is no safe place to be in Gaza, so people at this point are staying put where they are.”
Listen to the full interview with Taher Herzallah with MPR News host Cathy Wurzer by using the audio player above.
‘I walk on this street every day’: Minneapolis teen witnesses recent attacks in Israel
Minneapolis teenager Eleanor Fink witnessed some of the recent attacks by Hamas on Israel firsthand. Eleanor graduated from Southwest High School in June and is on a gap year program in Tel Aviv.
She and the program’s other participants were on a road trip when they heard rocket fire.
“I thought that there was a pretty good chance that there might be some conflict while I was in Israel. But I didn’t think that much into it. But when we got off the bus, after coming back from a nice weekend, we stopped and my friend yelled, ‘Get off — get out of the bus. Get on the ground,’” she said.
“And I laid face down on the ground with my hands over my head protecting them from rockets … and you could hear them overhead, which was really scary,” Eleanor said.
“I walk on the street every day during the day, like the same street. And it was just, it was — I didn’t think that that would ever happen to me. And the fact that it happened just over a month into me living here was really scary. But we’re safer now, which I’m glad,” she added, her father Howard noting the group was moved out of Tel Aviv to someplace farther away from Gaza.
Listen to the full interview with Eleanor and Howard Fink from Tuesday with MPR News host Cathy Wurzer by using the audio player above.
‘Unwavering in my hope for the future’: St. Paul man leads tours of West Bank to bridge divides
Fred Schlomka and his family split their time in St. Paul, Israel and Scotland. And when he is in Israel, Schlomka leads tours of Jerusalem and the West Bank through his tour company, Green Olive Tours.
Born and raised in Scotland by Jewish parents, Schlomka said his tours are designed to bridge divides and build understanding.
“We bring them to visit people on both sides of the Green Line, Israelis and Palestinians,” he said. “We bring them to refugee camps. They talk to settlers and hear the analysis of our tour guides, who are both Israeli and Palestinian.”
Those tours are on hold as war intensifies in the region. On Wednesday, a phone call with his daughter in Tel Aviv was interrupted by an air raid siren.
But Schlomka said the war intensifies the need for efforts like his to educate people about the conflict.
“I am unwavering in my hope for the future,” he said.
Listen to the full interview with Fred Schlomka and MPR News host Tom Crann using the audio player above.
Correction (Oct. 13, 2023): An earlier version of this story said Fred Schlomka was raised by Palestinian parents. He was raised by Jewish parents. His family originated from Palestine and immigrated to the U.K. in 1948 before the establishment of Israel.
‘People do not want bombings’: Minnesota Jewish community gathers after attack on Israel
On Tuesday night, a solidarity gathering in St. Louis Park , Minn., drew thousands of people. Some of the state’s top elected officials turned up at Beth El Synagogue to show their support.
Lines of cars stretched for blocks. Outside the temple, hundreds of people stood in a queue by the door. Many latecomers wound up watching the service on their phones from the parking lot.
Ari Hillman of Hopkins was one of the 1,400 people who found a seat inside. He came to support family members who live in Israel, as well as friends in the military reserves who are being called back to duty. Hillman said he is concerned for his loved ones and innocent people on both sides of the conflict.
“I think more people should realize that the civilians of every place, whether it be Israel or Palestine, care about each other,” he said. “They do not want war. People do not want bombings.”
Read more from Minnesotans at the solidarity gathering, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Gov. Walz.
Hundreds gather in Minneapolis Monday night in support of Palestine amid ongoing war
Palestinian flags waved and hundreds of people marched down Washington Avenue in Minneapolis on Monday night in response to a never-ending cycle of violence in the region.
Gaza — described by the Human Rights Watch as the world’s largest open-air prison — is densely populated with 2.3 million residents, many of them refugees who descended from people who fled or were expelled from their homes in other parts of Palestine in 1948.
Palestinian-American protester Meg Amad was among the hundreds who marched Monday. She said her dad was one of the people who had to flee.
“You can’t keep people in a cage from childhood. And treat them like dogs in a cage and expect them not to break,” Amad said.
Protester Maysoon Wazwaz said the only solution is for Palestinians to have equal rights and freedom.
“We cannot talk about anything before we end the occupation, and the apartheid regime, you know, and allow the Palestinian refugees to return to their homes,” she said.
Jewish summer camp staff, alumni mourn Israeli friend killed in attack
Staff and alumni of a local Jewish summer camp are mourning the death of an Israeli man killed in the Hamas attack on Saturday.
The website TC Jewfolk reports that Netta Epstein, 21, died in his apartment just outside the Gaza Strip while protecting his girlfriend from an exploding grenade.
Jake Niefeld, 22, of Hartford, Conn. is originally from Minneapolis and was Epstein’s cabinmate and close friend over consecutive summers at camp when the two were teenagers.
“We were 13, and we were talking right by the lake and he was talking about his legacy in the world and what he wanted to do in the world,” Neifeld said. “And I’m sitting there like ‘Netta, I just watch cartoons for fun. I have no idea about legacy.’”
Niefeld said he last saw his friend in 2018, but had a lengthy phone conversation with him in September to discuss a possible visit to Israel.
“I don’t think I would be half the man I am today without him,” Niefeld said. “I’m so fortunate that I got the chance to tell him how much he meant to me.”
Minnesota Israeli and Palestinian reflect on violence in Israel and Gaza
Minnesota is home to communities on both sides of the conflict. And we wanted to talk to both about their personal experience watching the fallout from the weekend’s deadly Hamas attack unfold from thousands of miles away, so we reached out to Tal Dror and Ziad Amra.
“It’s a nightmare. I have never seen anything like that in Israel,” said Dror, who is the Israel program director for the St. Paul Jewish Federation. She said her family in Israel is safe but she has friends with missing relatives.
“It was shocking in it’s breadth and scope, but also not surprising,” said Amra, a Palestinian American from Chaska, Minn. “The news cycle is filled with this because there has been an enormous amount of casualties on the Israeli side. But what’s not mentioned is the context of 75 years of Palestinian disposession from their lands. And occupation — let’s make no mistake about it — is violence day in and day out.”
Click play on the audio player above to hear the full interview with Tal Dror and Ziad Amra.