Mary Pinto
Mary Pinto, 70, born in Israel (Safed).
Her home is in Shlomi. Evacuated to the Dan Mount Scopus Hotel, Jerusalem.
Interviewer: Nava Tal
Who would have believed it? We arrived here thinking it would be for a short time.
Now it has been over a year that we are here, living in a small room.
Thank God, we lack nothing and we are protected, but it is still very difficult.
Everything here is crowded, and for us men there is nothing to do.
We spend the entire day in the room with no occupation. Even the newspaper subscription they provided for the first few months was discontinued. The activities here are only for women. It is very boring.
It is very hard for me to get up and walk, and the mental strain affects us deeply.
We have not had a single good day since we arrived here.
I miss my home terribly, and especially my synagogue.
I hope we will return very soon.
They killed my daughter while she was in my arms. What an injustice. How much pain this brought into our lives.
Our fortune is that God watches over us. We tried to buy a home in Nahariya because we wanted to escape from Shlomi. The friend of the man who killed our daughter went with us to purchase an apartment. We had already signed everything, but it turned out to be a bad deal — the apartment was mortgaged. This caused me even deeper despair.
I feel that pain and illness are constantly chasing us.
And yet, in the end, everything worked out. We are watched over.
Despite my illness and my difficulty walking, every morning I get up and say thank you for what I have. Thank God, as long as things do not get worse.
I hope we will be able to return quickly to Shlomi. We are already repairing everything that needs fixing in the house so that it will be ready when we return.
All we ask for is quiet in the north.
Who knows what they are planning there? I read in the newspaper that they had intended to do to us what they did to the communities and kibbutzim in the south. It is terrifying.
I want to live without fear in my home, in my city.
I pray for peace and security.
May all troubles come to an end, and may a new and good era begin.
Mary Pinto, 70, born in Israel (Safed).
Her home is in Shlomi. Evacuated to the Dan Mount Scopus Hotel, Jerusalem.
Interviewer: Nava Tal
Ilana Amrusi, 69, born in Israel (Tiberias).
Her home is in Shlomi. Evacuated to the Dan Mount Scopus Hotel.
Interviewer: Nava Tal
76, born in Tunisia.
Her home is in Shlomi. Evacuated to the Dan Mount Scopus Hotel, Jerusalem.
Interviewer: Nava Tal