SF civic leader, business owner describes frightening scenes in Israel

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

SF civic leader, business owner describes frightening scenes in Israel

Manny Yekutiel, the owner of Manny's in SF's Mission, spoke with ABC7 News from Israel. He was there visiting family when the Hamas attacks hit.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- As the brutal war in Israel unfolds, a local San Francisco business owner is right there, about 30 miles from the Gaza Strip.

Manny Yekutiel is the owner of Manny's, a restaurant in San Francisco's Mission District that's also a gathering place for civic events.

He is visiting his family in Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem, and sent ABC7 News video where you can hear sirens going off as a missile was being directed right to where he was.

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Manny spoke with ABC7 News Tuesday morning Pacific Time, saying it's been a very frightening scene.

"I've spent more time in bomb shelters than I would ever have liked to," Manny said. "I've seen hundreds of children in synagogues having to run for cover and having to see their parents shield them."

He says the streets in Tel Aviv have been empty, but he's also seen signs of hope and inspiration.

Manny says he spent time in a hangar, where there was a massive support effort for the soldiers on the front lines and the families torn apart by Hamas' terror.

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"I feel nervous, afraid, like an adrenaline rush, but also committed to being of use while I'm here," he said.

He originally made the trip to Israel for his niece's bat mitzvah, which was canceled due to the attacks, but his family was having a makeshift ceremony.

Manny described some of the atrocities, saying that he changed where he was staying in Tel Aviv to an apartment where a wife's cousin was killed along with her husband. That left 10-month-old twins in their house along the Gaza border.

In terms of getting home to the US, he is not sure when that will happen. He had a flight back but learned on the ABC7 broadcast that flights were being canceled.