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Bettendorf native bears witness to war

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By Thomas Geyer / QUAD-CITY TIMES | Tuesday, April 9, 2002 12:32 AM CDT | () comments

For the past 10 days, it has been "wonderfully" quiet in Jerusalem where Bettendorf native Moshe Newman now makes his home with his wife and five children.

In an e-mail to the Quad-City Times, Newman said that since the Israel Defense Forces began "Operation Protective Wall," terrorist attacks within Israel have virtually stopped.

During the calm, he said, Israelis have been going "about their �normal' lives as a defiance, but admittedly are terrified that violence will erupt again.

Newman almost became a victim of a suicide bomber March 21. Just before he was to leave his chiropractic clinic in the center of town to run an errand, a blast "louder than anything (he) had ever heard" rattled the windows of the Newman's office. A man had blown himself up just outside the building.

When he bikes down Yafo Street, where a number of attacks have occurred, Newman said he tries to avoid thinking about the bombings.

Other family members cannot ignore the danger so easily.

"My oldest child, 10-year-old Batya Leah, does have quite a bit of fear," Newman said. "It's hard on the children. It's hard on everyone."

Since his own childhood, he has had higher hopes for Israel, and that optimism contributed to his decision to move to Jerusalem in the early 1990s.

"I was only 6 years old when the Six Day War occurred, but it touched me," he said. "I believe that God wants the Jewish people back in the Holy Land. I believe that, for whatever His reasons, this is an important part of the process that will eventually result in world peace and brotherhood. Additionally, I believe there are many more miracles coming, so I came to have front row seats for the greatest show in the history of the world."

He believes only a "total military victory � will force them (Palestinians) to come to the negotiating table.

"As opposed to those who say there is no military solution to terrorism, we are seeing that a full military response works," Newman said in his letter.

It is infuriating, he said, that the rest of the world is protesting against Israel.

The war is also causing great harm to the country's economy, he added.

"Israel's economy was in very good shape before the war," Newman said. "Now it's devastated. So many people are jobless. So many businesses are closing. My practice has dwindled horribly. I don't know how much longer I can stay open. My clinic is in the center of town, so not only do people not have money for my care, but they are afraid of coming to my clinic because it's so close to where many attacks have occurred."

Thomas Geyer can be contacted at

(563) 383-2328 or tgeyer@qctimes.com.