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Israeli psychotrauma team en route to Pittsburgh

Israeli psychotrauma care specialists will provide support to the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.

By Jack Gold, World Israel News

A team of volunteers from United Hatzalah of Israel, in cooperation with Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora and the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh, is heading from Israel to aid the community and victims of the shooting attack that took place in a Synagogue on Saturday, in which 11 were killed and six others were wounded.

The team, which left Israel Sunday morning, is comprised of members of the organization’s Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit and will assist the families of those who were killed in the attack, as well as the injured and the rest of the community by providing psychological and emotional stabilization and treatment to those who need it.

Director of United Hatzalah’s Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit Miriam Ballin, who is heading the team said: “We are heading to Pittsburgh in order to treat those who witnessed the attack and anyone else from the community who feels the need for our assistance.”

The team will “be utilizing techniques and tools that we have developed here in Israel and have proven to be highly successful in assisting those who have suffered from similar incidents here,” she added.

“Additionally, we hope that our work will give the community a sense of solidarity on behalf of the people of Israel,” she noted.

Israel government envoys

Naftali Bennett, Minister of Education and Minister of Diaspora Affairs, stated that “when Jews are murdered in Pittsburgh, the people of Israel feel pain. All Israel are responsible for one another.” On Saturday night, he announced that he was leaving for Pittsburgh immediately.

Dani Dayan, Consul General of Israel in New York who represents the country in Pennsylvania, arrived in Pittsburgh “to be with our brethren in this tragic hour, to pay respect to the murdered, to pray for the recovery of the wounded and to embrace a grieving Jewish community I love.”