In an amazing display of the power of the internet and the power of compassion a collection of video game players and books will be heading from Elko to the beleaguered residents of southern Israel next month.
“Guys. We are trying to arrange for some activities for families in Netivot. Basically they are living in public bomb shelters. If anyone has old play stations or any gaming consoles that they are prepared to donate together with games please let me know,” wrote Barry Cohen a Realtor from Ra’anana, Israel on his Facebook page last week.
Netivot was founded in 1956 as a Negev development town. The first residents were immigrants from Morocco and Tunisia. In the 1990s, they were joined by immigrants from Russia and Ethiopia. For many years, Netivot suffered from high unemployment. Since 2008, Netivot has been a major target of missile attacks from Gaza. In the current conflict with Hamas terrorists well over 300 rockets have been fired at Netivot and residents have 15 seconds to make it to a bomb shelter.
Cohen’s post caught the eye of Facebook friends and Advocate Publishers Howard and Corinne Copelan. The Copelans who have three children and two grandchildren living in Israel and were planning to fly out this Sunday while having no used gaming systems themselves the Copelans knew someone who might, Jeni-Lei Powell of Ruby Mountain Pawn in Elko.
“I just wanted to see how much she would charge me but before I could even ask a price she said she was donating the two Wii’s she had in her store and would round up at least one more,” Howard Copelan said. “She is really quite amazing to be so charitable to people she has never met in a country she has never been to.”
The amazement did not end with Powell. Rachel Aue a member of the LIVE RUDE GIRLS heard about Ruby Mountain Pawn’s donation of game systems. She went home and asked her daughters Emillie, Dezi, and Brittanie if they were forced to be someplace like a bunker what would they like to have with them to keep them occupied?
“BOOKS!!!” They answered. The three girls then spent the last three days going through their books deciding which ones they would like to share with the children of southern Israel.
The actual donation will however be postponed. Tuesday Federal Aviation Administration ordered the cancellation of all commercial flights to Israel for 36 hours and Wednesday extended the period to another 36 hours.
“We simply can’t get a flight in,” Copelan said. “We have to postpone and looks like we may be able to go by late August. Hopefully by then things will be better and more hopefully by then the children of southern Israel will never have to go to bomb shelter again.”
There are four Elko County natives now living in Israel and as of press time well over 6,000 rockets have been fired onto Israel.
Well within Hamas’ missile range is the Israeli city of Netanya where both the Zohars and the Copelans each have a daughter living.
“Shoshana is fine,” said Baruch Zohar Wednesday. “We keep in touch by phone and computer. She is working and yes she is keeping safe.”
A former editor of the Elko Independent and 2008 graduate of Elko High School, Shoshana Zohar emigrated to Israel last year at the age of 24 shortly after graduating from Westminster College in Salt Lake City.
Shoshana lives less than a couple of miles away from fellow Nevadan, Anna Copelan Mowszowski, 30, who with husband Russell have two sons Oz two and a half and Ram a month and a half.
Daughter of Advocate publishers Howard and Corinne Copelan Anna emigrated in 2002 after she graduated from West Wendover High School. She graduated from Jerusalem’s Hebrew University in 2006 and then entered the Israeli Army for a two year stint.
According to Mowszowski shortly before a missile was sighted coming to Netanya last Tuesday night she was awakened by the siren and moved herself and her two children to a bomb resistant safe room in her apartment.
The reason for both women’s relative serenity under the unprecedented missile attack is the Iron Dome anti-missile system. Developed by Israel and partially funded by the US the system destroys, what was once thought to be impossible, low flying short range missile.
First deployed in the 2012 during a previous missile war with Gaza, Iron Dome has almost single handily take terror missiles aimed solely at civilian populations centers out of the equation.
In addition to Anna, the Copelans have two sons also in Israel. The oldest, Sam, a 2005 graduate for West Wendover High School is a captain in the Israeli Army reserves and was recently called up to secure the border on the Golan Heights. His younger brother Arieh a 2010 graduate of WWHS just finished his mandatory service in the IDF. While the younger Copelan was on the front line in the 2012 almost war in Gaza this time around Arieh is between postings from the standing army and the reserves and will probably be forced to sit this conflict out as a civilian.
