Israeli farmer who lost son to Hezbollah rocket tries to restore his orchard
‘I came and saw the worst thing possible to see,’ says Moshe Weinstein, who found his son, along with four Thai workers, lying dead in his apple orchard
Five weeks ago, Moshe Weinstein found the body of his son Omer and four farm workers killed by a Hezbollah rocket, their bodies lying in an apple orchard that he has cultivated for years.
Weinstein, 75, is back working his land, taking advantage of a ceasefire deal brokered last week between Israel and Hezbollah that is aimed at restoring calm to both sides of the border. But the horror will haunt him for the rest of his days.
“I came and saw the worst thing possible to see,” he told Reuters.
He had been elsewhere on the farm when the sirens went off on October 31, warning of incoming fire from Lebanon. Shortly afterwards an explosion shook the air. By the time he reached his son, there was nothing to be done. Four Thai workers were also killed outright while a fifth survived the blast.
“They were not supposed to be here harvesting on that day,” he said, recalling how Omer had taken his team into the orchard only because a client had asked for the sweet Pink Lady apples that grew in that section of his farm.
“The strike was there in the well, the tractor stood here with the cart,” he said, reliving the scene.
Weinstein’s family business lies close to Metula, Israel’s northernmost town, which was repeatedly targeted by Hezbollah rockets over the past 14 months as part of the Iranian-backed terror group’s campaign to support its Palestinian ally, the terror group Hamas.
בתמונה: עומר ויינשטיין ההרוג במטולה מימין, שניים מארבעת ילדיו ואביו משה, שהיה עימו בזירה @rubih67
(צילום: שימוש לפי סעיף 27 א') https://t.co/T51KbMknDw pic.twitter.com/hZL04J2IXk— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) October 31, 2024
Hezbollah began unprovoked rocket fire at Israel on October 8, the day after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israeli communities that precipitated war in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas-led attack on southern Israel killed over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and the group took 251 hostages back into Gaza.
Near-daily Hezbollah missile and drone attacks from Lebanon forced the displacement of some 60,000 residents of northern Israel.
Fighting intensified in late September of this year, with Israel killing much of Hezbollah’s leadership and launching a limited ground incursion on October 1 that saw soldiers search villages for rockets and other arms held by the terror group, and tackle its terror tunnels and other infrastructure.
“We are the ones holding the borders, 100 meters away; we are the final tree on the border,” Weinstein said.
Like most locals, the Weinsteins evacuated from their home, but were allowed back during the day to tend their crops, taking precautions to limit the danger, such as never traveling together in the same car.
“We were able to work. We were granted entry to some areas and not to others,” he said. “I didn’t think there was a 1 percent chance that one of us would be hurt, but actually, Omer paid the price.”
At least 3,768 people were killed in Israel’s retaliatory assault on Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, which does not differentiate between Hezbollah fighters and civilians.
The IDF estimates that some 3,500 Hezbollah operatives were killed in the conflict. Around 100 members of other terror groups have also been reported killed in Lebanon.
Israel and Hezbollah finally agreed last week to a truce aimed at establishing lasting peace after decades of tensions. But Weinstein, who has lived through three major Lebanon conflicts, has his doubts that the guns would stay silent.
“To me, the ceasefire is like Russian roulette,” he said.
