On her first ever trip to Israel last week, popular radio talk-show personality and clinical psychologist Dr. Joy Browne, whose spirited broadcasts regularly attract millions of listeners across North America, paid a visit to OneFamily headquarters in Jerusalem in order to learn more about the physical and emotional challenges faced by victims of terror in Israel.
Despite a busy itinerary, which called for her to visit a number of historical, cultural, and religious attractions, Dr. Browne spent nearly three hours at OneFamily, meeting with the organization’s CEO, Chantal Belzberg, the staff of trained psychologists, and four English-speaking victims of terror who described their experiences.
OneFamily (onefamilytogether.org) widely recognized as the premier outreach organization in Israel, has rehabilitated, reintegrated, and rebuilt the lives of thousands of victims of terror and war across Israel through a variety of programs. OneFamily’s 37 staff members and more than 700 volunteers service the needs of terror victims via the organization’s four centers across Israel. As evidenced by the recent terror attacks in Jerusalem and Dolev (Samaria), terrorism never takes a holiday and OneFamily staff members are on call around the clock.
“After experiencing the aftermath of 9/11, we all share a common echo and I’m impressed with the resilience of the people here who have worked or who are working to transcend fear and are getting on with their lives,” said Dr. Browne.
“When 9/11 occurred I was the only one on the air consecutively for several days, trying to deal with people’s fears. I remember hearing people on the street saying we all became Israelis in some manner on 9/11. It resonated with many New Yorkers and yet there were also many people who were in dire need of psychological help but were in a form of denial, like the firemen working at Ground Zero who didn’t want to be caught speaking with a ‘shrink.’ The macho personality became a form of denial, as they just didn’t want to know they were aggrieved.”
Dr. Browne listened intently as Cheryl Mandel, Rebecca Fuhrman, Kay Wilson, and Steve Bloomberg, English-speaking immigrants from Canada, the U.S., and the UK described their harrowing encounters with terrorism.
On December 18, 2010, Kay Wilson, a licensed tour guide, narrowly escaped death at the hands of two Palestinian terrorists who had surprised Kay and her visiting friend from America during a hike in a forest near Beit Shemesh. Kay described how, after seeing her friend, Kristine Luken, butchered before her eyes, she used her inner survival instincts to stay alive and find help despite being critically injured.
Kay told Dr. Browne that nearly five years later she is still dealing with the deep emotional traumas caused by the horrifying attack. One of her psychological escape mechanisms is to sometimes use using dark humor in the context of Israel’s complex realities.
“There I was, lying bleeding from everywhere on the table in the hospital,” she said, “and as I was being prepped for surgery, I can vividly remember the Jewish surgeon asking the attending Arab physician in the Jerusalem operating room, ‘Muhammad, can you please hand me the knife?’ So many people don’t realize that this scene plays itself out on a daily basis in hospitals across Israel and yet the world accuses us of being an ‘apartheid state.’ ”
Mandel, Fuhrman, and Bloomberg recounted how terrorism tore apart their families. Bloomberg, a British-born physicist who lost his wife and suffered paralyzing injuries when a Palestinian gunman opened fire on his vehicle near their home in Ginot Shomron (Samaria) in August 2001, told Dr. Browne, “We all want to find ways to be ‘normal’ again. Though I lost my wife and suffered debilitating injuries, I never lost hope that I could somehow live my life.” Bloomberg has since remarried.