70-year-old Ronit Feinstein was born and raised in Kibbutz Kabri, lived through the first and second Lebanon wars, and continues to live in Kibbutz HaGali with her husband – even today. Today, when the alarms sounded in the area of the kibbutz, she says that she was in her car with her husband Kenny, and in a moment’s decision – they decided to abandon the car at the time of the alarm and go inside to take shelter in their house. Seconds following they got out of the vehicle, he was hit directly by Hezbollah fire – and was completely injured. “We intended to drive south for our children, we were already in the car and started it, but suddenly two alarms sounded – one following the other,” says Feinstein in a conversation with “Maariv”.
“With a decision of seconds, my husband and I decided to leave the car, put the car in the parking lot and quickly entered the house. After a few seconds, when we were already inside the house, we heard a loud boom. In retrospect, we realized that as a result of the drone attack, the vehicle we were driving was completely damaged and “was a total loss,” she said. “At the time of the third alarm, we were already inside the house but we didn’t have time to get to the emergency room. We felt that the page was crazy – and we realized that there are also vulnerabilities inside the house and on our eastern balcony. As a result of the barrage, our shingles were damaged, there are large holes in the roof of the house, the shutters were bent and things were broken in the house and on the balcony,” she described and said that “we were saved by a miracle.” “We will say the blessing of the Gomel today, we had a great miracle, I still can’t get over the fact that we miraculously managed to get out of the car, and that we heard the deafening impact that led to injuries in our home as well. If we had stayed in the car – we wouldn’t be alive now,’ she said while regulating her breathing.
“The tragic event in the Golan, in which 2 residents were killed, certainly influenced our decision to leave the vehicle and run home, fearing the same thing would happen to us,” she said. Despite the severe damage to their property, Ronit and her husband Kenny do not intend to evacuate or leave their home: “I was born in a kibbutz, I went through all the wars and I will stay here. Unfortunately, the north today is an abandoned and empty place – and it is especially sad to live here. Kibbutz Kabri is almost the northernmost line from which the residents were not evacuated. North of us – all the settlements have been empty for 9 months. This is life in the north,” said Feinstein.
Ravita Shafer, spokeswoman for Kibbutz Kabri, told regarding the Hezbollah drone attack – which led to a morning of panic among the residents of the area: “The morning began dramatically. It started with first alarm, second alarm and so on – one following the other. We heard explosive sounds, loud booms – and from where I was present I even heard what sounded like a rain of shrapnel. That’s how we began to understand that there was a dramatic event here,” she said. “In our kibbutz there are old houses that don’t have security cameras or security rooms that don’t meet the new standard. It must be remembered that we are non-evacuee residents, and have been trying since the beginning of the war to manage some kind of routine, so that all the children were in the summer education frameworks. Our deterrence time is 0, and while the alarms were going off, a fall was clearly heard. The fall was clearly heard and led to a great panic among the people of the kibbutz, the doors of residents even got stuck from the hinge and a number of houses and vehicles in the kibbutz were damaged by the fragments of the UFOs. The houses were damaged, glass was shattered – roof tiles were damaged. Along with the strong human desire to continue the routine as usual, the fear is great, especially when the interceptions are not always carried out properly, as today. Our whole country is in total lawlessness – unfortunately we are also experiencing it.’
