By Alex Christodoulides
The group of about 20 people, including 11 City Council members from several boroughs and officials from the UJA Federation, had arrived in Israel Sunday on a Jewish Community Relations Council mission, Quinn said. They were in a meeting with Eli Moyal, the mayor of Sderot, a city of approximately 25,000 which is prone to rocket attacks, when the red alert alarm sounded at 4:10 p.m. local time, Quinn said.
“We had maybe 15, 20 seconds to arrive at a secure location before the rocket hit,” she said during a conference call from Israel some five hours after the attack.
The speaker was with Queens Council members Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans), Melinda Katz (D-Forest Hills), Helen Sears (D-Jackson Heights) and David Weprin (D-Hollis) .
Quinn said she had not heard the alarm or the rocket blast, but other members of the delegation had.
“We weren't sure whether the meeting was ending or something else was happening. It was frightening waiting to get the all-clear sign, reflecting on how you felt in those few minutes. It hits you in the gut how it must be to live with the knowledge you could be hit any time,” Quinn said.
While Israelis live with that knowledge every day, Quinn said it evoked memories of a recent attack in New York City.
“The mood was similar to the day James Davis was shot, and it brought that back for people. I can't imagine what it must be like to live with this on day-to-day basis,” she said.
Davis, a councilman from Brooklyn, was shot to death July 23, 2003 during a Council meeting at City Hall by a troubled political rival.
The rocket exploded near the clinic building of the Nir-Am kibbutz, about a mile away from City Hall, Quinn said. “The blast blew the windows out of the clinic. When we arrived, we visited the clinic to see the damage. It's a very small one-story building, and all the windows on the side where the rocket hit had been shattered,” she said. Nobody was hurt in the blast, she said.
Katz released a statement saying, “It was a very surreal experience to see firsthand how the Israeli people cope with the constant attacks. I was extremely impressed with their courage, resiliency and care for one another.”
The trip, which Quinn stressed was not a junket, was paid for by the Jewish Community Relations Council, which she said is not a lobbying group.
“This trip, even before what happened today, was and is a mission to help us in the City Council better understand and appreciate the situation in Israel,” she said.
On Monday the group visited social services organizations funded by UJA in Jerusalem and met with people who work on issues such as hunger and education and spoke with officials from the Israel Defense Forces. Later this week they were scheduled to travel to the city of Safed and meet with members of the Knesset, visit an absorption center for Ethiopian immigrants and meet with the deputy chief at the U.S. Embassy, Quinn said.
Quinn said there were no big changes to plans and no intention to leave Israel earlier than planned.
“People seem grateful we stayed,” she said.
Reach reporter Alex Christodoulides by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 155.
