Massachusetts family returns home on first State Department charter flight out of Israel amid war with Iran
The Klausner family from Sharon, Massachusetts flew to Israel to tour the country and spend time with relatives. They did not expect that war would break out in the Middle East while they were there.
"We were finally all together on Friday night which was so special. We had a big Friday night dinner. Went to sleep. And then that next morning, that Saturday morning, we woke up to sirens," said mom Rachel Klausner.
Rachel says the family of six, mom, dad, and four girls ages two to nine, started a new routine focused on staying close to shelters. Notifications to their phones and sirens told the family if missiles were coming toward Israel from Iran or closer from Lebanon, giving them a short window to run to a safe room. Rachel referred to the safe room by its Hebrew name, Mamad, to make it less scary for her younger kids.
"My youngest, who's two, was so cute. Every morning she would wake up and go, 'Mommy, if the siren go, I run to the Mamad,' Rachel said, "And she kept thinking it was dinosaurs. She says, 'I don't want the rockets to eat me.'"
As the family adjusted to their new routine, they hunted for opportunities to return home. The first came in the form of a text from the State Department. The Klausners were invited on the first State Department charter flight out of Israel.
The family trekked through Israel's largest airport, Ben Gurion, and boarded a flight to Athens, Greece. The family arrived home safe to Sharon on Sunday.
Rachel says she is happy to return to normalcy but she does not regret the challenges her family went through if it means the threat posed to Israel by Iran will finally be contained.
"Since I've been a kid, I always knew that this was our biggest threat against the Jewish community. The biggest threat we've had since the Holocaust, for sure," Rachel said. "It didn't feel annoying that it was happening. It felt like, OK. Go get them."
