'I walk on this street every day:' Minneapolis teenager witnesses recent attacks in Israel

INTERVIEWER: We're waiting for President Biden and Vice President Harris to join the podium here at the White House press room to make comment on what's happening in Israel and Gaza. They're still not ready to go yet. So what we are going to do here is to talk a little bit more about the Minnesota reaction to what's going on overseas. Specifically, we're going to talk about Minneapolis teenager Eleanor Fink. Now Eleanor witnessed some of the attacks firsthand. Here's who she is.

She graduated from Minneapolis Southwest High School back in June. She's on a gap-year program in Tel Aviv. Her program was on a road trip when they started hearing rocket fire. Let's hear from her.

ELEANOR FINK: I thought that there was a pretty good chance that there might be some conflict while I was in Israel. But I didn't think that much into it. But when we got off the bus, after coming back from a nice weekend, we stopped and my friend yelled, get off-- get out of the bus. Get on the ground. And I laid face down on the ground with my hands over my head protecting them from rockets as-- and you could hear them overhead, which was really scary.

And I don't know. I'd never-- I walk on the street every day during the day, like the same street. And it was just, it was-- I didn't think that that would ever happen to me. And the fact that it happened just over a month into me living here was really scary. But we're safer now, which I'm glad.

INTERVIEWER: So back home in Minnesota, Eleanor's dad, Howard, is following the situation closely, as you might imagine. I talked with him earlier this morning and asked what he'd heard from his daughter.

HOWARD FINK: I mean, they've been moved out of Tel Aviv and to someplace farther away from Gaza. And so she's safe now. I mean, she's-- her emotions have been kind of all over with this. But I think she seemed pretty calm this morning.

INTERVIEWER: Well, her emotions are all over I'm sure. So probably are yours as a dad.

HOWARD FINK: Yeah. Yeah. I had talked to her that my son, her brother, and I had been selected to go and hold the flag for the national anthem for the Twins game. And then it's kind of light conversation. And two hours later, she is texting me saying they're coming close. They're here, daddy. And she was taking cover from rockets flying overhead. And she had been-- they were outside and hadn't been able to get to a bomb shelter yet. So that was-- that was pretty sort of helpless feeling and scary.

INTERVIEWER: Wow. I can't even imagine what you were thinking.

HOWARD FINK: Yeah. I mean, we had her-- she shared her location. So we're watching and she sent a screen capture of this-- I don't know if all the kids have this app now that tells them where rockets are coming. And the screen showed the neighborhood she was in. So that's-- it's like, we check the weather, and they check where the rockets are coming. It's kind of, I don't know, dystopian.

INTERVIEWER: This is such a place in the world that is fraught with peril and tension. Why did she want to spend a gap year in Israel?

HOWARD FINK: Well, we had gone to Israel when she was 13 and Eli was, I guess he'd just turned 12. And they really had a great time. It was just for 10, 11 days, we'd gone to Israel and Jordan. And I think she wasn't quite in a place where to start college. And this gave her the opportunity. She's doing an architecture internship and one with a theater, and taking classes, and getting to travel, and having to live in an apartment, do her own shopping, her own cooking, transportation, laundry.

We thought that from a independence point of view, and getting to-- she's not going to be a year behind in life, and she'd get more out of college when she is ready for it. And she was going with a friend. She went to a Jewish middle school. So there's the religious connection. I think she hadn't been away from home for this length of time before. So that-- that's been a little bit of an adjustment. But I think she's made some friends. It was going pretty well up until a few days ago.

INTERVIEWER: Wow. What have you heard from her organizers, the program organizers in Israel?

HOWARD FINK: We were getting security updates a few times the first day. And then we got-- the last one was Sunday. There was a webinar for the parents. We didn't hear anything yesterday. Some of the staff have been called up into the reserves. So they've consolidated some of the kids. And right now, they're not sure if-- they're basically reassessing things minute by-- or hour by hour anyway to decide whether they can continue to provide programming. They need to keep the kids safe.

We are, and I think a lot of the other parents, are making contingency plans in case the need to move Eleanor out of Israel temporarily. She-- I mean, she doesn't want to end the program.

INTERVIEWER: By the way, what's the name of the program? I'm unclear.

HOWARD FINK: It's Young Judaea year course.

INTERVIEWER: OK. Wow, that's a lot that they're trying to do to keep the kids safe and then continue on with the programs. Just because you are a good parent, have you had the opportunity, or have you thought about maybe contacting Senator Klobuchar, or Senator Smith, just make sure that there would be an avenue to take if you needed to get Eleanor out?

HOWARD FINK: Not specifically. I mean, we signed up for-- we registered her for the state department. They know that she's there. They know what address she was at. But they have her contact information. They have our contact information so that she'll get alerts.

INTERVIEWER: Boy. I wonder how this will affect her. I mean, you grow up pretty fast when you're-- when something like this is happening.

HOWARD FINK: Yeah. I mean, I thought the COVID, and then they had the long teachers strike in Minneapolis, and the kids were all having to grow up fast and be resilient in ways different than we had to be, and then this. Yes. I don't know. But I mean, it certainly crossed my mind wondering what effect this will have. But she seems to be calm now. I mean, they have the kids volunteering. And they were sorting donations today to soldiers, and families, and I don't know what they have planned. They're trying to keep them busy.

INTERVIEWER: So you will keep in contact with her. She is still there. Any other safety plan that you're aware of for your daughter and the other kids?

HOWARD FINK: If there is a risk for where they are, the-- I guess, if the program is saying they can't keep them safe, then we're going to fly her out of Israel, at least temporarily, to another country. And the director of the program said if they feel that they can't provide meaningful programming, can't keep them safe, they will at least temporarily stop the program and everybody will go home.

I'm not sure what else they can do. I mean, where they are, there are bomb shelters, and it's probably-- it's not in a huge population center where I would think it would be a-- as much of a target for Hamas. So--

INTERVIEWER: Wow. What a situation. Howard Fink, thank you for taking the time to talk with us.

HOWARD FINK: Oh yeah. Thank you for-- you're welcome. And thank you for covering this story.

INTERVIEWER: Howard Fink is from Minneapolis. His daughter Eleanor is taking a gap year in Tel Aviv. What we're doing right now is we're in a bit of a holding pattern as we wait for President Biden to take the podium at the White House. He'll have remarks about what's happening in Israel and Gaza. He and Vice President Harris talked about an hour ago to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Israel's embassy in Washington just said the death toll from the weekend Hamas attacks has surpassed 1,000.

The victims are overwhelmingly civilians gunned down in homes, on streets, or at an outdoor dance party. Scores of Israelis and some foreigners were captured and taken to Gaza as hostages. We'll hear more from the president on that.