OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Aurelia Roddy is an Omaha native living in Tel Aviv, Israel. She moved to Israel to work on a master's degree in Middle Eastern studies and stayed. Eventually, she worked as a journalist in her adopted home.
- We spoke with Roddy last year, shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks inside Israel.
- The war, she believes, is allowing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to keep his governing coalition together for the foreseeable future: "The current government now sees the ongoing war as a way to stay in power."
- There are weekly protests with thousands of Israelis, many of whom want to see a ceasefire deal that brings the Oct. 7 hostages home: “...Every person knows someone who was killed, someone who’s fighting right now, someone who is a hostage. Everyone is connected."
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was in Israel Tuesday; an attempt to renew ceasefire talks amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
Shortly after the war in Gaza began I spoke with an Omaha woman who lives in Israel. I caught up with her a year later.
"This morning I was woken up from a – my alarm was a rocket siren."
A Bryan High and Creighton graduate Aurelia Roddy moved to Israel to get a master's degree in Middle Eastern studies then worked as a journalist.
I asked Roddy to share her observations more than a year since Hamas killed and kidnapped Israeli civilians and the Israeli government retaliated with an ongoing military operation. Her analysis: "The current government now sees the ongoing war as a way to stay in power."
The war, she believes, is allowing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to keep his governing coalition together for the foreseeable future.
There are weekly protests with thousands of Israelis, many of whom want to see a ceasefire deal that brings the Oct. 7 hostages home.
“...Every person knows someone who was killed, someone who’s fighting right now, someone who is a hostage. Everyone is connected,” said Roddy.
Fighting is close and escalating between Israel and Iranian-backed paramilitary group Hezbollah. The distance between Tel-Aviv and Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon is about the same as the distance between Omaha and Des Moines.
“Maybe what people don’t understand is it’s very hard to extend your empathy to another group of people as much as they may deserve it, as much as they may need it, when you, yourself are traumatized,” Roddy said.
Roddy emphasizes that, like any country, there is a wide range of opinions, but she fears the cycle of violence and revenge doesn't have an easy solution.
