Little Rock, Arkansas – A former track and field standout from Arkansas State University is entangled in the conflict between Hamas and Israel.
Itamar Levi, a former All-American athlete and graduate of the All-Academic honors program, acknowledged that he and his family had experienced disputes in the past in the area, but he expressed alarm about the current situation.
“Everybody knows somebody who died,” he said in a Zoom interview that came as nightfall fell on another day of fighting in Israel and Gaza.
Levi was born in Katzrin, Israel, and currently resides in Tel Aviv. Nothing, Levi claimed, could have prepared him for the horrors he had witnessed during the previous 48 hours.
Levi’s parents would make an effort to keep him unaware of events occurring in Israel when he was participating in university sports. He’s smack in the heart of it now, saying that the violence on social media and TV is real.
“We are losing civilians. They kill civilians,” he explained. “They kill women and children and kidnap babies.”
Israeli military reservists are being called up for duty, according to K8.
“I have two older brothers and their wives got recruited back to the military,” Levi said.
He declared that he had never witnessed anything like the attacks carried out by Hamas. Levi noted that although he and his fiancée need to be preparing for their wedding, there isn’t time to rejoice. His brothers are on their way to the battle.
“They are both infantry. Their wives. One of them is a tank commander and the other one is a logistic commander,” he said.
Levi claimed to have grown up beneath the Iron Dome’s protection and to have always felt safe because of the missile air defense system. One day, back when Levi was in Jonesboro, he gave the K8 Sports team members an explanation of how the Iron Dome operated.
“With the Iron Dome system, there are really high rates of success as long as you obey the instructions, you will be ok,” he said.
According to Levi, the issue is that the terrorists operating on the ground don’t care about human life.
“They are just slaughtering people. Just killing people,” he said shaking his head with disgust.
Levi is currently an Israeli sports coach. two of whom are members of the A-State track squad at the moment.
“Half of my heart is still back in Jonesboro. That’s one of the reasons that we are talking right now is because I feel so connected to you right now. I want to share with you what we are feeling and what we are going through.”