Local man escapes Israel following Hamas attack

Oct. 10—As of Tuesday afternoon, Somerset's Alan Dodson was on an airplane headed to Cairo.

It was news which many people in Pulaski County had been fervently praying to receive.

Dodson was in Israel over the weekend, when a number of Holy Land communities were attacked by militants from the Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas. According to the Associated Press, the Israeli military said Tuesday that more than 1,000 people have been killed in Israel, and in Gaza and the West Bank, 830 people have been killed, with reportedly hundreds of Hamas fighters among them, and thousands wounded on both sides.

U.S. President Joe Biden said Tuesday at least 14 U.S. citizens were killed in Hamas' attack and that Americans are among those being held hostage in Gaza, according to the Associated Press, which quoted Biden as stating that "there is no justification for terrorism."

Biden said on Saturday that he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the United States "stands with the people of Israel in the face of these terrorist assaults. Israel has the right to defend itself and its people, full stop."

The attacks occurred on Simchat Torah, a normally joyous day when Jews complete the annual cycle of reading the Torah scroll, according to the Associated Press, which noted that Israel's government is under intense pressure from the public to topple Hamas, a goal considered unachievable in the past because it would require a reoccupation of the Gaza Strip, at least temporarily.

Over 6,000 miles away in Somerset, Ky., the community — particularly the faith community at High Street Baptist Church — has been watching what has unfolded on the other side of the world and praying for one of their own. Dodson is a member of that flock, and on Tuesday, his pastor, Ed Amundson, spoke to the Commonwealth Journal on Dodson's behalf, having communicated with him shortly beforehand about a statement for those reading back home.

"At the time that the actual conflict broke out, the good news was, (Dodson) was with a group of people in the area near where the conflict broke out just the day before, but then they moved up north into the area of Nazareth just north of Galilee," said Amundson. "That's a good hour and 20 minutes away, so he was safe when the hostilities began.

"The next day they moved out of there to go to a place between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, where they hunkered down," he continued. "Right where they were the days before is where Hezbollah (another militant organization from Lebanon linked to the ongoing conflict) began to target a little bit. It was in that general vicinity. So the Lord really blessed him."

Dodson was in Israel because he works for a company that gives Holy Land tours, E.D.I. — "(He) handles all the promotions and everything here for the trips that go over there," said Amundson — and occasionally travels to the Middle East for business, as often as four or five times a year.

Speaking to the Commonwealth Journal at about 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Amundson said that the last word he'd gotten from Dodson was that, only about 20 minutes before that, he'd boarded the airplane to Egypt. He's expected back in the states by Wednesday afternoon, likely arriving in New York or another major metropolitan center before making his way back to Somerset Wednesday evening.

"As soon as it became apparent that Israel was at war, some airlines immediately announced a halt to service," said Amundson. "The few airlines that they had left began to place passengers in lots. There were so many lots available for passengers, and so when (Dodson's) lot came up, I believe on Sunday, as soon as he got to the airport, they told him that his flight had been cancelled. So he went back and spent another day and a half there (before getting out on Tuesday)."

While the attacks undoubtedly came as a shock to Dodson, even given his familiarity with the region of the world and the political volatility there, he wouldn't have been the only one, noted Amundson. Part of the reason is that during the season when tours like those E.T.I. gives are going on, there's typically not a lot of fighting.

"A lot of the tours will go to places like Jericho and places in the Arab sectors like Nazareth and Bethlehem," he said. "They have businesses. That's how they make a lot of their money is on tourism, food, the whole nine yards. So you don't typically, during tourism season, see many strikes. ... They usually steer clear of Americans for many obvious reasons, but this time, not so much."

But the other reason the attacks were so unexpected, noted Amundson, is because of how well-prepared Israel is for just such a thing.

"I talked with Boaz Shalgi, who owns E.T.I.; Boaz was in the military," said Amundson. "This was a major shock for most of the Jewish people. I've been there twice myself. The security is as tight as a drum. The Israeli government has all the coastline monitored with every kind of detection system you can imagine. They have walls that are up over most of their territory between them and Gaza and the West Bank. ... The Israeli Air Force is constantly, round-the-clock, (flying) F-22 and F/A-18 (fighter jets); they fly helicopter gun ships and they fly drones, constantly. Then they have the Mossad, the secret service, and the Mossad is in both Gaza and the West Bank, and they're also very much throughout the Middle East. Hamas can't sneeze that (those with Mossad) don't know what's going on.

"So for the fact that there were a thousand very well-armed fighters, plus such a cache of close to 5,000 missiles, and then this well-trained, well-organized pinpoint strike that they carried out ... Israelis are very shocked," he continued, repeating what Shalgi had told him. "For this to happen, there had to be more than just a breakdown of security. They're not sure what has happened. The number (Tuesday) is over a thousand who have died and 2,000 who have been wounded, and if you add that up with our numbers from 9/11, given their size of population, it is three or four times bigger (a loss). So they're very much in shock, and very much wondering how this happened. I know from Boaz, he's feeling very much like they deserve justice, and they want to see Hamas crippled, and they want to see Hezbollah pushed back."

Amundson isn't sure yet if his church will do anything with Dodson regarding the situation he just escaped. It's been another moment of great duress for the Dodson family, which lost 17-year-old son Andrew in April of this year, after he suffered an ultimately fatal injury during the Pulaski County High School spring football game.

"This has been a very emotional year for the Dodson family," said Amundson. "I imagine the first thing he'll do is hunker down with his family for some well-needed rest and reconnection there, and then I don't know (what we'll do). I'm going to kind of go at his pace."

On Sunday, Dodson made a video from Neve Ilan in Israel and posted it to his Facebook page to let people know that he was "okay" as were those who were with him including ministry associates.

"If you were here with me today, you couldn't tell that much was going on other than the heavy aircraft presence, and then every now and then you'll hear the Iron Dome in action, protecting the country of Israel," said Dodson, referring to that nation's air defense system. "... Psalm 122, verse 6, says, 'Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,' and I trust that my family and friends back home in the U.S. are doing just that right now."