EXCLUSIVE: Escaping the Battle of Ben Gurion Airport: Jewish Americans reveal their horror flight out of Tel Aviv as they dodged Hamas missiles – and tell of their guilt at ‘abandoning’ Israel

Two Jewish Americans shared their harrowing flight from Tel Aviv, narrowly avoiding Hamas missiles as rockets rained down on Ben Gurion Airport.

Dr. Nissan Levy, a resident physician, and David Usher, a physiotherapist, both 28, flew from Israel to Dubai before eventually returning to New York.

As they headed for their flight in Israel on Monday, rocket sirens blared and chaos broke out. The panic increased as they boarded their flight, when a rocket hit nearby just as they were ascending the ramp into the plane.

The plane and the ramp itself began shaking violently, Levy and Usher recalled, leaving them petrified and sending travelers into a frenzy. They didn’t know if they would ever make it home.

“The scariest thing was on the ramp,” Levy said. ‘When I got on the plane, the whole ramp started shaking. We felt the aftershock. It was very surreal,” Usher added. “That’s when we started getting nervous.”

At JFK Airport Wednesday night, the two childhood friends from Nassau County shared their traumatic journey home from the war zone in Israel, describing the panic and fear they and many other travelers experienced along the way.

‘People were running and crying at the airport. It was really traumatic. I lived in Israel for three years, and it was peaceful during my stay,’ he added.

“A rocket fell half a mile outside the airport.” Levy said.

‘It was a non-stop barrage of sirens and constant threat from the Iron Dome. We were glued to social media for updates.’

The chaos at the airport only added to their stress, with elaborate security measures and multiple flight cancellations.

But the traumatic ordeal began earlier in their journey, during their stay in Israel, where they were vacationing over the Jewish holiday.

Instead of celebrating, they spent their time holed up in a basement, hiding from rockets and possible terrorist incursions.

The friends were forced to barricade themselves in the basement of the rental house they were staying in due to the absence of bomb shelters in their Airbnb.

As observant Jews, they refrained from using their phones during the holiday when Hamas began their terror campaign, leaving them unaware of the gravity of the situation until later.

Dr. Recalling their experience, Levy said: ‘We woke up to a siren and realized there was no bomb shelter on the bottom floor of our Airbnb. We had no telephones and no minyan (a group of 10 people required for Jewish prayer).’

They hid for hours, oblivious to the true horrors that spread across the country as terrorists unleashed evil, killing and torturing as many innocent civilians as possible.

“We thought it might be an exaggeration until we saw the deserted streets of Jerusalem,” he said.

‘No one believed it could get this bad. We heard rumors and heard sirens, but didn’t realize how bad it was until after,” Usher said. “We thought it was an exaggeration.”

The constant sound of sirens and rumors circulating only added to their anxiety.

Usher and Levy, who lived in Israel for years in the past, said it was unthinkable to believe the state of the country until they saw with their own eyes the empty streets of Jerusalem, which they described as a ‘ghost town’ ‘ described. and the fear and panic of people with families trying to get home.

‘This poor lady was freaking out, everyone was trying to scramble out. It was pure chaos and panic,” Usher said.

It was surreal,’ Usher said. ‘There were people running in the airport. People were crying at the airport. It was really traumatic.’

At the same time, they noted the many people who are desperately trying to come back to Israel from America to volunteer.

Dr. Expressing guilt over leaving Israel during such a crisis, Levy said: ‘I felt like I had let down everyone who was trying to get to Israel. I felt like I was leaving my country and my people. I’m an American, my life is here, but still.’

Their trip, which started as a holiday adventure, turned into a nightmare, but the two expressed the importance of still being able to enjoy life, despite the horrors.

They described their conflicted feelings about how to mourn the loss of life and suffering of Israelis without allowing the terrorists to strip their lives of joy.

Ben-Gurion Airport, Israel’s main international gateway, was packed with desperate travelers trying to escape earlier this week – when the Palestinian militant group launched a rocket attack near one of the terminals.

A rocket salvo in the Tel Aviv area landed near a terminal. The video circulated online appears to show smoke rising near the airport’s parking lot.

A spokesman for the Israel Airports Authority said there was an aerial rocket interception and a possible impact in a nearby village.

They added that there was no impact on the airport itself.