Arkadi Gaydamak responded. Now he is being criticized for helping out the community.
The wealthy businessman was one of several who were approached by Batia Katar, head of the Sderot parent committee. Katar sought funds to send families with children away from the rocket-battered city for a few days, after a woman was killed and two people were critically injured in Kassam rocket attacks on Wednesday. Almost a dozen people were lightly wounded in the attacks which landed primarily in the city’s center.
“The tension is very high and is affecting the children,” explained Katar. “We therefore asked [Gaydamak] to take the children out now for a break from studies, for a holiday, and so on,” she said in an interview with the Ynet news service.
Gaydamak agreed to pay a week-long vacation at five hotels in Eilat. Families with babies and smaller children were taken to the hotels in the Red Sea resort town on Thursday afternoon. Those with older children and teens were set to follow them on Friday.
National Union – National Religious Party (NU-NRP) Knesset member Yitzhak Levy was one of several politicians to shake their heads at the move. “Evacuating the students is an imaginary solution intended to provide temporary relief for residents and to avoid dealing with the government’s failure in preventing the Kassams’ firing for good,” he said.
Levy’s colleague, NRP Knesset member Nissan Slomiansky said Thursday afternoon that Gaydamak’s willingness to send the children away for a short vacation was well-intended but misguided.
“His solution is the opposite of what needs to be done,” said Slomiansky. “The solution is fighting without compromises. Is Gaydamak capable of evacuating the children of Ashkelon and Ashdod tomorrow? Because the Kassams will ultimately reach everywhere.”
Slomiansky added, “A vacation in Eilat could be good only after the Kassam firing stops.”
Kadima party Knesset member, Dr. Shlomo Breznitz made a similar assessment in regard to a plan to bus the children to schools outside the community, in areas which are out of rocket range.
Breznitz, a psychologist, claimed that a short-term break from the attacks would only increase the children’s fears, “since there isn’t an absolute solution for the Kassam firings at the moment.” Returning them to an environment in which rocket attacks could still occur at any time, he said, would raise their anxiety level further.
The wealthy businessman was one of several who were approached by Batia Katar, head of the Sderot parent committee. Katar sought funds to send families with children away from the rocket-battered city for a few days, after a woman was killed and two people were critically injured in Kassam rocket attacks on Wednesday. Almost a dozen people were lightly wounded in the attacks which landed primarily in the city’s center.
“The tension is very high and is affecting the children,” explained Katar. “We therefore asked [Gaydamak] to take the children out now for a break from studies, for a holiday, and so on,” she said in an interview with the Ynet news service.
Gaydamak agreed to pay a week-long vacation at five hotels in Eilat. Families with babies and smaller children were taken to the hotels in the Red Sea resort town on Thursday afternoon. Those with older children and teens were set to follow them on Friday.
National Union – National Religious Party (NU-NRP) Knesset member Yitzhak Levy was one of several politicians to shake their heads at the move. “Evacuating the students is an imaginary solution intended to provide temporary relief for residents and to avoid dealing with the government’s failure in preventing the Kassams’ firing for good,” he said.
Levy’s colleague, NRP Knesset member Nissan Slomiansky said Thursday afternoon that Gaydamak’s willingness to send the children away for a short vacation was well-intended but misguided.
“His solution is the opposite of what needs to be done,” said Slomiansky. “The solution is fighting without compromises. Is Gaydamak capable of evacuating the children of Ashkelon and Ashdod tomorrow? Because the Kassams will ultimately reach everywhere.”
Slomiansky added, “A vacation in Eilat could be good only after the Kassam firing stops.”
Kadima party Knesset member, Dr. Shlomo Breznitz made a similar assessment in regard to a plan to bus the children to schools outside the community, in areas which are out of rocket range.
Breznitz, a psychologist, claimed that a short-term break from the attacks would only increase the children’s fears, “since there isn’t an absolute solution for the Kassam firings at the moment.” Returning them to an environment in which rocket attacks could still occur at any time, he said, would raise their anxiety level further.