Tali Medina
Manager of Urim dairy farm
Kibbutz Urim. Eshkol Regional Council, (About 12 km from the Gaza Strip)
“In the morning of that horrendous Shabbat, Haim, my Husband went on a bicycle ride with his good friend.
They didn’t manage to get too far from the Kibbutz as they saw the massive barrage of rockets that were launched into Israel from the Gaza Strip. I started texting him on WhatsApp and told him about a rumor that was circulating about massive gunshots around Urim junction. It didn’t take long until he sent me a picture of his bleeding hand saying he was shot. He later told me, they saw a pickup truck, full of terrorists aiming a machine gun at them. Luckily, his friend screamed at him: ‘Haim, Lay down!’ so most of the bullets flew over their heads. It was pure luck that the terrorists didn’t stop for dead checking and continued to their next slaughter destination.
After that horrendous Shabbat, all of the civilians from the Gaza envelope were evacuated as the envelope region became a Military exclusion zone. During the first few days, there was still heavy fighting around us but despite those security threats I decided not to leave my Kibbutz. I felt that I had to stay and take care of our cows.
Someone needed to stay put in order to feed, milk, and take care of the future calving.
I couldn’t simply walk away. It was my duty to take care of them.
Even though we suffered heavy fighting around us I didn’t cancel a single milking. in Urim dairy farm we made sure there would be, as usual, three milking a day. I felt I had to make sure that everything was working as it should be and it didn’t matter to me if there were rockets or shooting around us. The show must go on. When people asked me why I didn’t evacuate I said that it was my own personal interpretation of what being a zionist is all about.”