Ofer Musan arrived just more than a week ago to be the new Israeli cultural emissary for the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga, and he was planning a Monday night get-to-know-you talk for the community. Late Friday, plans changed.
He’d gone to bed following an event at a synagogue, only to be awoken when his phone exploded with messages.
Musan checked Israeli news sites. In the coming hours he would learn militants with Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, had launched a surprise attack. Towns and even an all-night music festival near the border were under attack.
So far, more than 800 Israelis have been killed and still more kidnapped as hostages. Israel has declared and mobilized for war and the death toll in Gaza is rising amid a bombardment, according to several news reports.
And instead of Musan’s talk, postponed for another day, the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga, like many groups around the U.S., held a public rally of solidarity with the Israeli people at its Jewish Cultural Center in Brainerd on Monday evening.