Israeli soldiers who returned home from abroad to defend their country and fight Hamas terrorists were met at the Ben Gurion airport at 2:30 a.m. with an enthusiastic crowd, a video posted to X claims.
The video, posted by Israeli technology business adviser Hillel Fuld and credited to R’David Begoun, appears to shows young women jumping, cheering and singing, wrapped in the Flag of Israel after the soldiers reportedly landed. Then, the young men can be seen gathering in a circle and dancing while someone plays the drums.
Let me paint the picture for you.
IDF soldiers abroad flew home to fight for their people. They landed at 2:30AM in Ben Gurion airport. 2:30AM, this is what was waiting for them!! 🇱💪❤️
Video taken by R’ David Begoun.
Am Yisrael Chai!!
The Greeks aren’t here. The Romans… pic.twitter.com/HuOLVqjikl
— Hillel Fuld (@HilzFuld) October 11, 2023
“IDF soldiers abroad flew home to fight for their people. They landed at 2:30AM in Ben Gurion airport. 2:30AM, this is what was waiting for them!!,” Fuld wrote.
“Am Yisrael Chai!!,” he added, which means, “The people of Israel live.”
The Palestinian terror group Hamas launched an attack early Saturday on Israel, which has thus far killed more than 1,200 people and injured more than 3,400 people, according to reports. The attack occurred on the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret, the last festival of the High Holy Day cycle.
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More than 100 Israelis were also kidnapped to Gaza — including women, children, and the elderly, many of whom were abused during their abductions. The Palestinian terror attack against Israel has been referred to as the “worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.”
In response to the attack, the Israeli Airforce has struck at least 1,000 terror targets in Gaza. Israel has also mobilized 300,000 reservists as its forces continue strikes against Hamas terror targets in Gaza.
As Breitbart News reported, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) normally has fewer than 200,000 soldiers on active duty, and 300,000 reservists represents an expansion of more than 150 percent.
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“Given that the country’s population is just under 10 million people, that means about 5% of the Israeli population is currently deployed at war,” Breitbart News’ Joel Pollak reported. “According to the IDF, the mobilization is the quickest of any war or event in Israel’s history.”
Pollak also noted that scores of Israelis living overseas have flown home in the past several days — not just those who were called up for military duty, but many who simply volunteered to join units heading to war.
“Israelis who are not deployed are volunteering in every capacity — donating blood, collecting food and supplies for the troops, and filling in at jobs that deployed reservists are leaving behind,” he wrote.
Other reports have come out showing determined and patriotic Israelis who were out of the country during the horrific terror attack celebrating their return home upon their flight landing in Tel Aviv. Video from Asian News International (ANI) posted to X on Tuesday shows passengers cheering and emphatically clapping after a flight that took off from Ethiopia’s Adis Adaba landed in Tel Aviv, Israel.
#WATCH | Passengers cheer after flight that took off from Ethiopia’s Adis Ababa, lands in Israel’s Tel Aviv
Israelis who were out of the country return home due to the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict pic.twitter.com/onqzOMNUzC
— ANI (@ANI) October 10, 2023
In a separate report, ANI spoke with Israelis abroad who expressed eagerness to return home to support their country and be with their families. ANI specifically spoke with Israeli tourists visiting Kangra’s Dharamkot village in India, known as “mini Israel” because it is the only village in Himachal to have a Jewish center.
“The situation back home has left me devastated,” said one Israeli tourist named Roee. “We are scared for our families and friends there and also can’t help feeling outraged against the Hamas terrorists. We are trying to take a flight back home so that we could join the forces, who are battling Hamas out there. We are desperately trying to book the first flight home.”
Rotem Golpur told the outlet that many Israeli tourists like himself “want to serve the military and help out our forces, as the situattion is grim back home.”
“Most flights have been canceled. Our friends and families are already involved. We want to go back but can’t,” Golpur said.
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Another visitor, Sahar Kleinfeld, said “many Israelis have received calls from the Army to join them.”
“There is an urgent need for more countrymen to join this fight against Hamas,” Kleinfeld added.
In the United States, NBC Los Angeles spoke to some Israelis at the Los Angeles International Airport who were returning home to help the war effort.
Celine Mimon told the outlet she shared a tearful goodbye to her 20-year-old brother, who is currently enlisted in the Israeli military and had been on leave visiting family in California. Mimon and her siblings were born in the United States but have dual citizenship through their parents, and three of the four siblings have served in the Israeli military, the report stated.
“I’m heartbroken and I’m so scared for him and everybody in Israel,” Mimon said while crying.
Another Israeli, Ayana Levine, told the outlet she was trying to catch a flight back to Israel after learning her nephew was killed.
“I’m just trying to get her home so she can be there for the burial,” said Levine’s friend Sarah Halpern, who was trying to help her book a flight.
Hundreds of foreign nationals in Israel have also been reported murdered, missing, or abducted by Hamas terrorists following the deadly invasion. At least 22 Americans have been killed, and an unspecified number of Americans remain unaccounted for.