Last October’s massacre in southern Israel sent shockwaves throughout the country, as families quickly realized they'd be sending their sons and daughters, husbands and wives into harm's way. Naomi Nussbaum of the Israel-based group OneFamily says it even traumatized Israelis who had spent their whole lives with suicide bombers, rocket attacks and other acts of terror.
“On Oct. 7th nothing could have prepared anybody for what happened. That was the most gruesome, horrific, barbaric attack that anybody had ever seen,” Nussbaum said.
She says Americans may remember the shock and horror of 9/11.
“The impact is just unimaginable. It's something comparable to September 11th if 30,000 people had been murdered in the towers instead of about 3000 people,” she said.
OneFamily is a rapid response team for victims of terrorism.
“We show up to funerals, we show up to Shiva homes, or we show up in hospital rooms and introduce ourselves. We help people fill out the government paperwork to get the benefits that they're entitled to and then we fill in all the gaps,” Nussbaum said.
Nussbaum says terrorism is a trauma that never ends.
“Not only do they want your parents dead, they want you dead, they want to destroy your house, they're coming for you. So, there's a very insidious type of trauma and fear and terror that goes along with the terror attack that doesn't necessarily come along with other types of traumatic attacks.”
