Family leaves Israel, arrives in Chicago after Hamas attack

CHICAGO - One woman who has been living in Israel just arrived in Chicago.

Deborah has been living in Israel for 12 years. 

She says it's heartbreaking to hear what’s being portrayed in the media compared to what she’s seen in Israel firsthand.

She left her dream home, garden and kibbutz on the border of Gaza behind, all because of Hamas. 

"We have lived through several wars. My girls are used to sleeping in the bomb shelter. It doubles as their bedroom. This is different, this is different. I’ve never been so terrified, and I was in the Highland Park shooting a couple of summers ago. Right at ground zero of the shooting. And I’ve still never been this terrified," said Deborah.

Deborah shared some graphic images with Fox 32. She says the terrorists have left behind bloody scenes in Israel.

She believes Hamas has committed the worst crime against Jews since the Holocaust. 

"Their goal is to kill Jews, their goal is not to live peacefully, their goal is not to have two state solutions," said Deborah, "I have to say when I lived through that with my children, bunkered down in our bomb shelter, while my husband took kitchen knives to defend us in case our home was infiltrated."

She says even in the face of such terror, people don’t understand the Israeli Army is not unleashing its full power. 

"Israel is so humanitarian and so concerned about life, and even if it's the life of the Palestinians in Gaza, that we haven’t bombed the hospitals, but they used human shields because they know that the IDF cares so much about life," said Deborah. 

Even though Deborah is far from violence and is receiving overwhelming support from her community in Chicago, she’s still worried about the rising anti-Semitism happening here, too. 

She says they want to return to Israel one day, whether it's on their slice of paradise along the Gaza border or elsewhere.

She says amid this madness, she’s learned that her home is with her girls.