US tourist visits Sderot to support residents left behind
James Greenberg, an 85-year-old American Jew visiting Tel Aviv, travels down to battered city after hearing of situation on the news; says all Israelis and tourists should visit Sderot more often
After thousands of Sderot residents fled the Qassam-stricken city the past few days, an 85-year-old Jewish-American tourist decided to visit the place in a display of identification with those who stayed behind.
James Greenberg of New York is no stranger to Israel, as he arrives to visit his daughter a few times a year.
Greenberg's late wife Shoshana was born in Haifa in 1923, and on the day of her birth was saved by her father as Arabs in the city attacked the Jewish residents. Greenberg said that in visiting a Jewish city under Arab attack he felt he was gaining closure on the matter.
During his present visit to Israel, Greenberg followed the deteriorating situation in the South closely, and upon seeing images from Sderot on the news, he decided that it was his duty as an Israel-loving Jew to go south and identify with the residents and the reality in which they live.
He called a taxi from his Tel Aviv hotel room and went directly to Sderot.
"I am proud to be here, I wish I could help," Greenberg said on Sunday. "I wish I could throw a few rockets into Gaza. I can't believe that I read about this in the newspaper just yesterday and today I am here. I think that all of Israel's citizens who do not live in Sderot, and visitors from abroad should come here more often."
Other than Greenberg, and the many reporters arriving in Sderot over the past few days, it is hard to find people who are not residents in the city at the moment.
A visit to a popular journalists' meeting place, Haim Cohen's restaurant, gave a bleak picture of the effect the Qassams are having on small business owners and their incomes.
Cohen described how his business was suffering and that the only clients he was receiving were journalists. "People don’t leave their houses at all. The situation is deteriorating and I can't cover my expenses."
Cohen explained that the constant rocket threat has also disrupted his family life, as his 11-year-old daughter has been refusing to sleep alone over the past few days.
Despite the situation, and his wife's repeated attempts to convince him to leave the city, Sderot-born Cohen said he did not plan to leave his home.
