Kiryat Shmona MDA staffers lend experience to Sderot

By JUDY SIEGEL
Magen David Adom medics who are based in Kiryat Shmona, which has endured barrages of rockets and missiles fired from Lebanon for many years - have come to Sderot to help their colleagues. Shimon Abutbul, head of the Kiryat Shmona MDA station and deputy head of the organization's Jordan Valley district, said: "We decided that if we're going to Sderot, we should do it properly. So we brought cases of fresh fruit and mineral water from the Galilee. We arrived on Saturday night after a three-and-a-half hour drive and were warmly received by MDA workers and volunteers. Yehuda Shushan, the director of the southern district, briefed us. "At 6.30 a.m., we first encountered Kassams. There was only property damage, but soon afterward, one person was killed. We arrived on the scene quickly and did all we could to help the wonderful MDA teams working in the South." Abutbul said the situation in the South could easily be compared to what happened in Kiryat Shmona. "There is tension and a crazy situation in which people don't feel safe even in their homes. Kiryat Shmona was targeted by 1,000 Katyusha rockets during the Second Lebanon War. Then, we received help from MDA personnel from all over the country, including from the South. There is no doubt that mutual concern and help promote the feeling of unity," he said. "Some content the Katyushas are bigger and more frightening, and technically this is true, but Kassams can wound and kill, and cause the same fear when they go boom."