Kfar Aza kibbutz massacre: Father saves daughter he hadn't seen for six years

[Uncle Joe]

Twenty-two-year-old Neta Portal had not spoken to her dad in six years, following her parents' divorce.

But when Hamas gunmen broke into her house in the Jewish community of Kfar Aza and shot her six times, she knew he was the only person who could save her life.

Shimon Portal, a policeman, was already in a firefight in the nearby city of Sderot when he received the first message from his daughter:

(snip)

The plain-clothes policeman was already on his way to Kfar Aza, but when he eventually arrived in his unmarked car, gunmen opened fire and he responded.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67089114

[dem4decades]

1. "I'm coming". Wow.

,

[question everything]

2. So many stories so much courage and agony

[drray23]

3. ands unlike some here, despite all the horror she endured, she still has perspective

regarding the plight of others who are caught in this war:

when ask what Israel should do:

"The army needs to be inside Gaza," Neta says. "They need to kill one terrorist after one terrorist after one terrorist. I want peace with all my heart, but I think it's not going to be peace."

She takes a breath.

"I'm sorry I say that - but I just was in my house. And they shot me in my bed."

I ask a final question: does she think of the civilians in Gaza who will inevitably be killed in such an intense ground operation?

"All that I say is for the jihadis and Hamas. My country doesn't want to hurt civilians. I don't want to hurt civilians. I want them to be saved. I don't think they need to die. Like I don't need to die. They are like me.

"But we need to fight."

My sentiment exactly. Hunt and kill Hamas, not the palestinian civilian population.

[marybourg]

4. And that's exactly what Israel is doing

by getting the civilian population out of the way. But people are attacking them for that, too!

Do they know of a way to crush Hamas in the midst of an urban environment where Hamas is literally dug in (to tunnels) and using civilians as shields? Of course not. There is no way.

But their preferred alternative is for Israel to just go away, chanting “two wrongs don’t make a right “ and wagging their finger at Hamas. Since it wasn’t their family killed and desecrated. Shame!