State Sen. Russ Goodman was on vacation in Israel when he was jolted by the sound of incoming rockets and the distant echoes of small-arms fire.
Israel was under attack by Hamas terrorists who launched a surprise invasion from Gaza – and security officials encouraged the Republican lawmaker to return home to South Georgia as soon as possible.
What followed was a harrowing 36-hour journey from Jerusalem to the West Bank to the Jordanian capital of Amman, where Goodman caught the first in a series of flights that eventually got him back to rural Homerville.
On the plane, he saw anguished passengers hesitant to leave Israel after terror attacks that killed more than 1,300 and plunged the Mideast into war. And he couldn’t help but feel guilty about leaving, too.
“There’s a part of me, even though I’m old and worn out, that wanted to stay there,” he told the Politically Georgia podcast.
“You want to stand by your friends, and be with your friends,” Goodman added. “Nothing against the country of Jordan, but I felt more safe in Israel with rockets landing close to my hotel than I did in Jordan. It hurts your heart to leave them.”
An evangelical Christian, Goodman said he grew up with an unflinching belief that the U.S. should champion Israel’s right to exist – and help defend against enemies who seek to erase the Jewish nation from the map.
When he returned home Thursday, Goodman said he couldn’t stomach images of pro-Hamas demonstrations in U.S. cities.
“It sickens me because the Israelis are protecting Americans in Israel. Hamas is killing them,” he said, invoking the more than two dozen U.S. citizens who died in the terror attacks. “Are people going to stand for good or evil?”
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