As 209 Clevelanders arrived in Israel on a Jewish Federation solidarity mission yesterday afternoon - they were gathering their luggage at Ben-Gurion Airport - they were informed about the Karkur Junction bombing that engulfed a busload of Israelis in flames. They were saddened, but not deterred. "While we are mourning the loss of life," group spokesman Michael Bennett later told Arutz-7's Josh Hasten, "the group is almost taking an Israeli attitude that life must go on. The bombing will not deter us! We're here to experience Israel, to show solidarity with Israel, and to enjoy being in Israel - so it's really full steam ahead. And just like Israelis have to live with these terrible things, we'll keep going as well. We're here on a mission and we are going to carry it through."
The Cleveland group is here for a week participating in a number of social services programs geared at improving the quality of life of Israel's citizens. One of the projects involves the launching of a training curriculum for medical professionals to provide care for Israeli women of diverse backgrounds. The group is also scheduled to build and then dedicate a new playground in the town of Kiryat Malachi, near Ashkelon, for Israelis of Ethiopian descent.