‘Want to help’: Young Qld barista flying out to serve in Israel war hell
A Queensland barista who served in the Israeli Army will fly out on Thursday to the war zone, vowing to help the families of the missing, murdered and injured.
Cairns
Don't miss out on the headlines from Cairns. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A Queensland barista who served in the Israeli Army will fly out on Thursday to the war zone, vowing to help the families of the missing, murdered and injured.
Magnetic Island woman Gal Cohen, 25, is not required to serve given she is a reservist living overseas, but has chosen to do so.
“I knew that the war would continue whether I was there or not, so I wanted to go over to help”.
Ms Cohen, who is an army social worker, says she doesn’t know where exactly she will be posted until she arrives on Sunday.
“But I know I will work with families of missing, murdered and injured people, helping them whatever they need – which is often housing,” she said.
One of those missing is her close friend Tiferet Lapidoy.
Ms Lapidot was at the Supernova festival where at least 260 people were killed over the weekend has been missing since Saturday morning.Ms Cohen says Ms Lapidot is “the purest, kindest, most beautiful” person and still holds out hopes she will be found alive.
Meanwhile, a leading Cairns rabbi has opened up on what he says are the heartbreaking impacts of the Israel-Palestine conflict on Jewish Australians as some prepare to leave Cairns to join the Israeli war effort.
Rabbi Ari Rubin, who moved to Cairns in 2016, said that almost all Jewish people in the Far North know people in Israel.
“There are people in Cairns who have friends who have died there,” he said.
“This has particularly struck my wife; she is not sleeping, won’t leave the house, and is afraid to be left alone.”
Mr Rubin said his wife grew up in Jerusalem and that the attacks “confirmed all her worst nightmares” and aggravated her PTSD after growing up surrounded by “constant bomb blasts and shakes from terrorist attacks”.
“Every Jewish person has a connection to Israel, its hurts every one of us”.
Mr Rubin said many people in the Cairns Jewish community were preparing to go to war for Israel, and the only “reason they are not already is because it’s so hard to get there at the moment”.
On October 7, Hamas fighters fired rockets into Israel and stormed cities near the Gaza Strip, killing and injuring hundreds of soldiers and civilians and taking dozens of hostages.
A day later, the Israeli cabinet formally declared war against Hamas in the most significant escalation of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict in several decades.
Mr Rubin said the night before the attacks, his community was dancing joyously during their “festival of joy,” and the next time they came together to dance, they were dancing with “tears in our eyes”.
“I don’t consider this war. War is not killing children and raping people. These are acts of pure evil. They are terrorism and barbarism. Things that belong in the 12th century,” he said.
More Coverage
Originally published as ‘Want to help’: Young Qld barista flying out to serve in Israel war hell
One in four chance tropical cyclone could form
There’s a one in four chance a tropical cyclone could form off the coast of Cairns by the weekend after up to 200mm of rain fell in some parts of Far North Queensland. RAINFALL TOTALS
Cairns’ newest citizens reveal why they call Australia home
From our radiant tropical shores to being the land of opportunity, some of Australia’s newest citizens reveal why they’re proud to call our sunburnt country home.