UM students recount harrowing escape from Israel amid missile strikes
Nearly two dozen University of Miami students who were trapped in Israel on Jewish heritage trips are back home safe.
"I still am processing all of this and how to feel. I'm so glad to be back here in America, but my heart is still in Israel and with all of my brothers and sisters out there," said Ariella Green.
Green was among the group of UM students who were trying to get out of Israel as missile strikes between Israel and Iran escalated. All flights to and from the country were canceled.
"We drove to one of the ports in Tel Aviv and we took a boat to Cyprus and Cyprus had about 1000 kids trying to get in and stamp passports and all that," Green said.
From Cyprus they were able to fly home through Europe to MIA on Sunday.
"We had students from FSU with us, students from UCF, USF, U Miami, it was all of us together and it just that connection that we formed were all trauma bonded now forever," Green said.
Her mother, Elizabeth Green, said she is happy to have her daughter home with her in Boca Raton.
"I was so elated it was so elated it was just pure joy," Elizabeth said. "I never wanted her to be frightened there, so I always tried to be reassuring to her in the scariest of times. I was very scared."
After having to rush to the bomb shelters multiple times, Ariella said it was just a taste of normal life in Israel.
"The fear of like, oh my gosh it's off, get your shoes on, get your bag and let's go and make sure everyone is accounted for, that was scary," Ariella said.
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Ithaca's compact downtown features pleasant tree-lined streets surrounding The Commons, a four-block, pedestrian-only commercial area that hosts popular events like the city's Apple Harvest Festival in September. Located on the traditional homelands of the Cayuga Nation, Ithaca was settled in the late 18th century by Revolutionary War soldiers who received land grants as payment. Cornell University, the Ivy League school perched high on East Hill, was founded in 1865. Ithaca College followed in 1892, originally as a downtown conservatory of music — a forebearer of the city's lively music scene. Today, the college is a much wider-ranging institution on South Hill. All this is ripe for exploration, but ask any local what a visitor should do in Ithaca, and waterfalls top the list. So let's start there. Three state parks packed with falls are within five to 10 miles of downtown, but you don't even have to leave Ithaca for impressive cascades. 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Evening meditation is open to the public on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5:15 p.m. Bird-watchers will find a trove of knowledge in Ithaca, too. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, several miles from the main campus, combines research, education and participation from around the globe to increase understanding of birds and nature. Anyone with the popular Merlin Bird ID app has sampled a bit of its work. A shiny new visitor center, with a wall of glass looking out on Sapsucker Woods Pond, opened last summer. Visitors can witness FeederWatch Cam's action in person, borrow binoculars to bird-watch along five miles of trails and explore the hands-on Bird Discovery Lab, which helps visitors understand how birds see, fly, create their distinctive sounds and more. A touchscreen display offers a multisensory experience featuring an array of birds and their calls. 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New Jersey teen who got stuck in Israel amid war with Iran finally returns home
New Jersey teen finally back home after getting stuck in Israel during war with Iran New Jersey teen finally back home after getting stuck in Israel during war with Iran New Jersey teen finally back home after getting stuck in Israel during war with Iran A New Jersey teen who was stuck in Israel as it exchanged missile strikes with Iran is finally back home. Abigail Inglis, 17, was living on a campus outside Tel Aviv as part of a two-month semester abroad program, but once war broke out, it was a week of trying to get home to Bergenfield. "I was like, I'm literally never leaving" Abigail was supposed to return to New Jersey on June 18. Instead, she was sending text messages to her worried mother reading "heavy missiles [right now]" and "in shelter." She showed CBS News New York's Jenna DeAngelis videos she captured of missiles overhead in the night sky. "It was definitely very, like, scary, but this was happening every night, multiple times a night," Abigail said. It became so frequent, she and her classmates slept in the shelter for a week. "These were the sirens we would hear every night that was basically telling us get to the shelter now," Abigail said, playing another video. At one point, the group had plans to leave on a flight out of the country, but it was canceled a short time later, Abigail says. "I actually texted my mom and I was like, I'm literally never leaving," she said. "It was, like, the best experience of my life" Hours later, Abigail was awakened from her sleep and rushed onto a boat to Cyprus to begin the long journey back to the United States. "Everyone was just, like, trying to get on as fast as they could and leave. It was very intense, and it was 16 hours," she said. "And then we finally got a flight from Cyprus to Athens, and then Athens to JFK ... I couldn't wait to get my bag at JFK and just go out those doors to see my family." "Not until she landed at JFK and I saw her and I grabbed her did I realize that, like, she was really back," mom Jocelyn Inglis said. Abigail returned home with an Israeli flag signed by all her new friends from the semester abroad program. She plans to hang it up in her room. "It was, like, the best experience of my life. Through everything that happened at the end, it didn't change my love for Israel," she said. "Anytime I could, I would love to go back."
