President Trump is inconsistent with the Pentagon’s report on Iran’s damages
President Donald Trump has pushed back reports showing that the US attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities is not as successful as originally claimed.
They visited a new country, left excitedly to connect with Jewish identities and gain first-hand knowledge about one of the world’s most renowned regions. They left behind memories of air raid sirens and bomb shelters.
After Israel received a shocking attack on Iran earlier this month, young Americans on their study abroad program and their birth trip to Israel have forced the United States to make a disastrous escape as both countries traded missiles and American troops entered the conflict directly and bombed three Iranian nuclear sites.
The thousands of escapes included 17 high school students from Arizona, who leaned into a bomb shelter before boarding a cruise ship into Cyprus on the Mediterranean island. A Florida State University student studying geopolitics in the Middle East fled to Israel’s mountainous regions and traveled to Jordan.
“It was fear I’ve never felt before,” Aidan Fishkind, who was in Israel for two months’ birthrights and internship programme, told USA Today. “There was a missile land two miles away from the hostel.”
A calm conflict under a delicate ceasefire came during Israel’s busiest tourist season.
The group safely evacuated around 2,800 young people in the country, according to the Israel Foundation, a nonprofit sponsoring youth visiting Israel. Many of them are on luxury cruise ships. According to its website, the nonprofit has cancelled its program, scheduled for until July 10th.
Meanwhile, the Spiral War also sought Iranian Americans to find a safe place to await Iranian bombing. Hundreds of Americans fled the country last week, according to the State Department’s Interior Cable, seen by Reuters.
“I was scared for my life.”
Fishkind, in Detroit, Michigan, arrived in Israel on June 3 and interned in the marketing department at Jaffa Institute, a Tel Aviv-based nonprofit. But a little after his first week, the war broke out, leaving him and his fellow students scrambled for safety.
He recalls the first night after Israel launched an attack on Iran’s nuclear site, and Iran responds with a barrage of missiles. He and his group of Detroit-area students received phone alerts about incoming rocket fires and ran into rooms and stairs atriums known as “safe zones.”
All night he heard a deep destiny that shook the building. He wondered whether the Rumble would be the sound of Israeli air defense systems intercepting rockets or the Iranian missiles landing in the city. It was both, he will learn later.
“I was scared of my life,” he said.
In Detroit, his mother, Jennifer Fishkind, brought him multiple flights home. However, each flight was cancelled as Israeli officials closed the country’s airspace.
“You’re just feeling helpless thousands of miles away,” she said. “We told him, ‘You’re fine. You’re fine.’ ”
The next day, Fishkind and his group set out to the Dead Sea area south. This was considered much safer than Tel Aviv. There, Fishkind stayed at the hotel and met scores from other students across the US and Canada. Almost a week later, he boarded a cruise ship into Cyprus.
Once he reached the island he immediately took a flight to Rome and eventually took him to Detroit.
Fishkind, who prepares for his junior year at Elon University in North Carolina, said going home is a adjustment. He said the memories of the siren and the night he was evacuated from the missiles would take some time to deal with it.
“As I got home and lay in bed, I kept thinking, ‘Did that actually happened?’ ”
Tallahassee students share memories of sirens and bunkers
Madeline King traveled to Israel with a group of over 20 students at Florida State University as part of a mission trip to investigate and study the Israel-Gaza conflict. It was organized by Hillel of FSU, the university’s largest Jewish campus organization.
The group was scheduled to leave Israel on Saturday, June 14th and return to Florida, the day after Israeli forces attacked Iran’s nuclear program. Anxiety left them temporarily in Tel Aviv, where they were targeted by Iranian missiles.
“We’ll hear the sirens all night…and we’ll find ourselves descending into the bunker every time,” King told Tallahassee Democrats, part of the USA Today Network.
Like Fishkind, her group headed to the Dead Sea area near the west bank of the Jordan River. They then travelled to Jordan, where they boarded the flight boundary to Cyprus.
There, King and hundreds of others took part in flights to Florida in projects coordinated with the state’s Office of Emergency Management. Florida officials said last week that more than 1,400 state residents had evacuated Israel by planes and passenger ferries.
Tear-like reunion
A group of 17 high school students from Arizona arrived in Israel on June 4th, learning about Jewish religious traditions and Israeli culture and history, travelling the country for a week.
Like their fellow American students, the group quickly discovers that they cannot leave by plane as they originally intended.
Brett Kurland, one of Arizona students, said, according to Arizona Republic in the US: “We’re a parent of one of our Arizona students.”
With the help of Arizona Senators Reuben Gallego and Mark Kelly, students managed to board a luxury cruise ship departing for Cyprus. After an 18-hour voyage, they arrived on the island and then returned to the United States.
Many families were waiting for students at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on June 25th. Some families stood worried about the signs of homemade food, while others had flowers and balloons. When students emerged from the jet bridge, the family cheered at a tearful reunion and accepted their loved ones.
A similar scene took place at international airports all over the United States.
In Michigan, Jennifer Fishkind and a group of parents took in the children as they got off a plane at Detroit’s Metropolitan Wayne County Airport.
“After all, you’re just waiting to get your arm around them,” Fishkind said. “That was the best feeling.”
