ISRAEL — A woman raised in Milwaukee, now living with her husband and six children in Israel is giving us perspective on what it's like living amid the ongoing conflict near the Israel-Gaza border.
"As you can imagine, it's not an experience I've had before to be in a war zone," said Julie Bloch Mendelsohn.
Now, planted in the middle of a war zone, Mendelsohn moved from Milwaukee to Israel 15 years ago to live in a Jewish state.
"If I hear a siren tonight, I will wake up my two kids who are here. The older two kids are already downstairs," she told TMJ4's Ryan Jenkins just after Midnight her time on Sunday. She said she'd have just a minute and a half to get everyone into a safe room if sirens sound.
The sirens are a sound she has not heard yet, but she says it could sound any any second.
"I've never had anything hit my safe room. So, I don't know. Like, I hope it's really, you know, built to standard," she said.
Her fear mounts as the fighting continues along the border there. This family, keeping the Jewish Sabbath, has been surviving the war since it broke out last week.
"I went into the synagogue and the person who's in charge said, Where's your son? There's a war. And that was like, what," she said.
Mendelsohn has two older children who are Israeli soldiers. Their family back in Milwaukee is worried sick.
"my parents were calling like crazy. What's going on? Are you okay," said Mendelsohn.
During the day, Julie says she tried to keep horrible images of the way out of her younger kids routines. Her family, doing anything they can to help anyone displaced.
"My little kids, they're they're 13 and 15, they have been just collecting things for the soldiers collecting things we have, like at least 400 families that relocated from the South to here," Mendelsohn said.
She has also cooked meals for nearly a dozen displaced families and her son has been taking the car to drive things to soldiers.
"It's it's amazing to see there isn't anyone here who isn't just volunteering or trying to chip in on the home-front," Mendelsohn said.
This as she and her family hope for a quick, strong end to the abrasive conflict. She says she just wants peace for the region.
"I know that our I know that our army is strong, I think that they can do it. I know that the world really supports us," Mendelsohn said.
