Blunderbuss Firozabad
Made of Pumpkin pie
Left: 95 yo Nitza Hefetz and her home health care aide, Camille Jesalva
Right: Kibbutz Nirim 1948
Nitza and Camille have taking a lot of pictures in their time together, this one isn't posed for a reporter.
" A quick-thinking Filipino caregiver saved her life and that of her 95-year-old employer Nitza Hefetz on October 7 by giving a Hamas terrorist who had broken into their Gaza border home the savings she had prepared for a planned trip to the Philippines two days later.
“I opened my wallet and told him to take everything I had, NIS 1,500 ($370), just to save myself and Nitza,” the carer, Camille Jesalva, told the Ynet news site. “I showed him the plane ticket and asked him just not to take that.”"
"Nitza woke up and wanted to protest, and he started yelling at her,” she went on. “I was scared, I told her ‘Nitza, please be quiet,’ and I looked at him.
I saw that he was getting nervous, and I was even more worried. I told him, ‘Please, sir, she is old and doesn’t understand anything. Please don’t do anything.”"
" The terrorist then asked if there was more money in the house, in Kibbutz Nirim, and walked around the property, with Jaslava, 31, behind him.
He took Jesalva’s smartphone and eventually left."
[WOW. Dude wasnt very committed to his ideology, was he? Would they go away if they all got $370? Did he answer a Soldier of Fortune ad? ]
" Jesalva locked herself and Hefetz in the protected room, where they spent several hours until help arrived.
Having previously worked in Dubai, she understood that the people talking “very aggressively,” first outside the house and then inside, were doing so in Arabic."
"Jesalva canceled her flight to the Philippines to remain with Hefetz. “I feel like I can’t leave her, like she’s my best friend,” she said. “She trusts me and I trust her. ”
Camille is spectacular.
So is Nitza.
Nitza has been with Kibbutz Nirim since it's inception in 1946.
What the article doesn't mention is that Nitza would have been part of the Battle of Nimin.
She would have been around 28 years old.
(The property Kibbutz Nirim was, and is on, is land purchased in the 1800s, btw. )
The Battle of Nirim
"The Battle of Nirim was a military engagement between the Egyptian army and the Jewish Haganah militia on May 15, 1948, the first day of the Egyptian invasion of Israel in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
It was fought in kibbutz Nirim, founded just two years earlier "
When you hear about where Palestinian and Israelis are at today, it's important to have context like this:
" November 29, 1947, the U. N. granted Israel the mandate to declare independence, dividing the Mandate into a Jewish state and an Arab state.
The state of Israel was declared on May 14, 1948, and the next night, the armies of a number of Arab states invaded Israel and attacked Israeli positions. "
" The Israeli defenders were all members of Nirim itself, 39–45 in number, 12 of them women..
The village was fenced and mined; its members had a total of 34 rifles and submachine guns, two light machine guns and one 52 mm (2") mortar."
Versus:
" The Egyptian force consisted of about 500–800 troops from the 6th Infantry Battalion, backed by armored vehicles including at least 20 Bren carriers, 81 mm (3") mortars, 2-pound and 6-pound cannons, and aircraft."
" May 15 at 05:30, the Egyptian forces were spotted advancing at the kibbutz.
At 07:00, a massive artillery barrage from Rafah commenced, lasting a full hour and causing devastating damage, injuring 12 village members, and severing telephone and radio contact with the rest of the Israeli forces. "
" The Israeli firing positions were located in the four corners of the kibbutz, numbered clockwise (Position 1 in the southeast, 2 in the southwest, etc.).
Another position was located next to the gate in the west.
Most of the buildings were made of wood, except the "Safety House" made of reinforced concrete next to Position 1.
No water tower had been built there yet, but construction had started next to Position 2.
The medical and communication facilities, as well as the command bunker, were located underground in the center of the village."
A lot more happened that day, but in the end...
" Seven Israeli soldiers were killed in the battle, including the regional commander and one woman, Rivka Salzman, a Holocaust survivor.
The Egyptians killed in action were about 30–35. "
" Kibbutz Nirim had won."
Filipino caregiver paid off terrorist, saved herself and 95-year-old employer
Camille Jesalva opened wallet, handed over $370 intended for a trip home, and smartphone
www.timesofisrael.com
