Hello From Jerusalem From Yossi's desk
Sunday, March 2, 2008

Hello from Jerusalem.

In my last update, I wrote about the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto rally in support of Sderot that took place last week. The rally was a huge success.At the rally I told those of you that attended about Yossi Haimov, the 10 year-old boy who was severely injured by a Kassam attack. Since the overwhelmingly moving rally for Sderot, which empowered local residents and moved all in attendance, on both sides of the sea, the situation has, tragically, only gotten worse, and continues to deteriorate by the day.

Rather than try to compose my own words to express the desperate situation, I would like to share with you the following letter, written by Yossi Haimov to our Prime Minister, and published in the weekend newspaper.

As a father of three boys, I find Yossi’s words particularly heartbreaking. No child should ever have to experience what Yossi is going through – not in Sderot, or in Ashkelon, or in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. We must do everything possible to ensure that this threat to our country and our people stops so that our children can live in peace and security in Israel, our one and only homeland.

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Mr. Prime Minister:

I want you to know that I am afraid. I am afraid of the Kassam missiles. I am afraid of dying. All I think about is how I lay on the ground after I was injured. I thought that my hand had been severed. I held it so it wouldn’t fall off. People tell me I experienced a miracle. They say I could have died. I’m happy I didn’t die. But I’m very scared.

I am asking you, Mr. Prime Minister, to stop the Kassam missiles. Build something that will stop the missiles. I don’t know what; I’m just a child. Make them go through what they’re making us go through. I want all the Arabs who are throwing these missiles at us to die. I don’t want them to live. They are bad to us. What is happening to us, I want to happen to them.

I was born in Sderot. I remember the first Kassam missile that I ever saw. It was before the “color red” warnings. I was in nursery school. I went with my mother to take my sister to the park. I heard a loud “boom” and the entire street was shattered. The entire park was destroyed. I hate that there are Kassam missiles. Everyone starts crying and screaming and my parents’ faces are sad.

Sometimes I am jealous of children who live in other cities. I would also like to live somewhere quiet; somewhere where I could buy ice cream with my family and have picnics. Now, it’s impossible because there is always a “color red.” Our whole family has to sleep together in one room because we’re afraid of a Kassam attack. I want to be a soccer player when I grow up, but we can’t even play soccer these days. We can’t go outside; it isn’t allowed.

Very soon I will be released from the hospital and I will return home. I will tell my father that I want to move. I don’t care if they say I’m not brave. I want to live.

-Yossi Haimov

10 years-old, of Sderot, who was injured last week by a Kassam missile.

Yossi

MIA Countdown (as of March 2nd):
Gilad Shalit: 1 year, 251 days
Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev: 1 year, 234 days