With airlines suspending flights to Israel, all families in the Bay Area can do is support one another. And that’s exactly what they did as they stood in solidarity in San Jose Tuesday night.
They gathered in prayer, shared their stories and discussed how they could help those most in need, including the soldiers.
Luba Perlov of San Jose said her mother and father live five minutes away from one of the first explosions in Israel -- and they had nowhere to run to.
“They were sitting in the staircase, they don't have a place to hide, they are elderly they couldn't run far away,” she said.
Thankfully, they’re not alone. A friend from Ukraine lives with them and sends Perlov daily updates.
“Anything happening to my parents is painful without the war, but this is very scary,” she said.
She, along with dozens of other community members and leaders, stood with Israel Tuesday.
Sherona, born and raised in Kibbutz, was also there praying for her family and a missing soldier.
“Everybody is scared, we don't know if there’s still Hamas hiding somewhere, stealing kids,” she said. “I understand war, I was in six-day war in a bunker in Israel, I was in the ‘73 war as a teenager, war is soldier against soldier, but going into houses and raping women and killing little babies and stealing them, this is not a war.”
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
Also standing in solidarity with this community was San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, and District Attorney Jeff Rosen, who recently visited a small village that now lies in ruins near the Gaza border.
“Some of them are dead, and some of them are missing, so I'm thinking a lot about Kfar Aza and Sderot where we visited as well,” he said.
They prayed for a resolution and for an end to this war.
