90-year-old Holocaust survivor moved to Israel last month – refuses to retreat from frontlines
A 90-year-old Holocaust survivor from NYC moved to Israel last month – and said she has no plans to retreat from the frontlines in the wake of a devastating attack by Hamas.
Lucy Lipiner – who arrived in NYC as a 16-year-old Holocaust survivor from Poland – told The Post from Tel Aviv on Monday that she remains resolute and ready to stare down any evils that may come her way.
“Friends in the US are begging me to come back. They said I`m not going to help Israel by staying and will not rest until I come back,” Lipiner said.
“I say, ‘Listen, I love the US – I know what the US did for me and my family, it was good to us – but I’m not running and not going anywhere. I’m not afraid for myself.’”
With a wry laugh, the nonagenarian added, “Listen, I won’t die young.”
Lipiner has called NYC home since 1949. A mere months ago, in September, she felt compelled to “move home” to Israel and “be with my people,” never imagining what massacres would unfold a mere month later.
“Knowing about this attack before I moved wouldn’t have changed my mind. Running is not who I am,” she said from her temporary apartment in Tel Aviv without a safe room.
During the Saturday surprise Hamas attack, Lipiner said she collected her seven-pound Shih Tzu, Biji, and ran to a lower floor for safety when the booms from the Iron Dome sounded.
“The attack was shocking. The sound of the boom of the Iron Dome was pretty scary,” she said, adding that it rang out several times during the day.
“They sent a number of missiles on Tel Aviv – and some landed, with reports of injuries,” she said, though none life-threatening.
Follow along with The Post’s live blog for the latest on Hamas’ attack on Israel
The 90-year-old authored the 2013 memoir, “Long Journey Home: A Young Girl’s Memoir of Surviving the Holocaust.”
The book detailed her harrowing story of survival as a young Polish six-year-old whose childhood was stolen when the Nazis invaded in September 1939.
“I did not have a childhood – that was denied to me,” Lipiner said.
She recalled how at least 17 family members were killed while she trekked as a barefoot and hungry little girl in Siberia and Tajikistan in central Asia, before finally making it to America. Lipiner described her harrowing journey as “a ten-year flight to freedom.”
The widow has a son and daughter, who wants her mom to be vigilant for what may come: “My daughter tells me I have to be ready – dressed and ready with water” in case of new rocket fire.
She’s been a witness to history many times over – and now again.
Worst attack on Israel in 50 years: How we got here
2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip over three decades after winning the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.
2006: Terrorist group Hamas wins a Palestinian legislative election.
2007: Hamas seizes control of Gaza in a civil war.
2008: Israel launches military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fired rockets into the town of Sderot.
2023: Hamas launches the biggest attack on Israel in 50 years.
Over 700 Israelis are dead over 2,150 are wounded and 100 were taken hostage with the death toll expected to rise after Hamas terrorists fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of militants into Israeli towns.
Hamas terrorists were seen taking female hostages and parading them down the street in horrifying videos.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced “We are at war” and vowed Hamas would pay “a price it has never known.”
Gaza health officials report at least 300 Palestinians have been killed with 2,200 injured.
“I’ll do my best to tell the world what happened to us and the world did not come to our rescue,” said Lipiner, a retired licensed occupational therapist who was an IDF volunteer in 2015.
She said she hopes young people can draw from her fortitude now.
“I hope I can contribute to do some good in Israel,” she said, adding shyly, “I’m young on the inside and the outside, if I may say so without bragging.”
Despite the barbaric nature of the attacks in Israel – “our people are being slaughtered” – Lipiner doesn’t compare the brutality of Hamas and that of the Nazis.
“I don’t appreciate when people say, ‘Even the Germans weren’t this bad.’ The Nazis were more than cruel – they were sadistic, killing children and babies before they killed the mother, so she could see it.”
Lipiner, who challenged Whoopi Goldberg’s roundly condemned comments about the Holocaust last year, added that the Nazis “took pleasure” in people who were starved and thirsty, telling them they would get their shower.
“The shower of course was not a shower,” she said of the gas chambers.
She called Hamas “vicious human animals who kill easily,” and feels confident about Israel’s strength.
“I have absolutely no doubt about our victory – Hamas will be wiped out of existence and the Jewish people will be strong and endure.”
Lipiner is defiant about not moving an inch from her new Israeli home.
“I don’t have the habit of going into a panic. I just feel sadness and pain,” she said. “I’m not worried for myself as we go to war. I’ll be here with my people.”
As she prepares to potentially shelter, charging up her iPhone and stocking up on bread and water, Lipiner said defiantly, “Israel needs me. It needs all of us. I know it was the right choice to move here.”
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