As sheriff of Daviess County, Keith Cain’s job has taken him a lot of places, but none like where he is now. Cain is in Israel with a delegation of sheriffs from across the country who were invited to meet with Israeli government, military, and law enforcement officials.
When WKU Public Radio spoke with the sheriff by phone Wednesday, he was 800 meters outside the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the militant Hamas organization. He spoke from Sderot, a community that less than a month ago, was the site of 63 rocket attacks in a 36-hour period.
“More than anything that I’ve learned the last three days is the incredible resiliency of the Israeli people.”
That resiliency, he says, was seen in the face of a single mother he spoke with about the daily rocket attacks.
“She said all the children suffer from emotional distress. We viewed the playgrounds of kindergarten kids who can no longer play outside. They have to play in fortified bunkers built around their playgrounds,” explained Cain. “In the community we were in today, they have ten to 15 seconds once they are notified of a rocket attack to get to a sheltered area. These youngsters learn this as early as age two. That’s something difficult, I think, for Americans to comprehend.”
The goal of the trip, Cain said, is to learn from experts in terrorist events such as suicide bombings.
“I understand the concept of emergency management. We deal with it in Daviess County and in Kentucky, but we always plan for an isolated event. Emergency management in Israel is an everyday occurrence. We can and should learn from those experiences and that’s one of the reasons I’m here.”
The trip was funded by the American Israel Education Foundation, which according to its website, is “a charitable organization affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.”
Cain and the other sheriffs will spend Thursday on the Syrian border.
