BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (WXYZ) — A prominent metro Detroit businesswoman is one of many local residents worried about loved ones now caught in the midst of the Israel-Hamas War.
Florine Mark, the former president of Weight Watchers, has grandchildren and great grandchildren in Israel.
Her 29-year-old grandson Mataan, who grew up in Farmington Hills, is a reserve officer for the Israeli Defense Forces. He graduated from Cranbrook High School and the University of Michigan before moving to Israel.
Mark was just in Israel two weeks ago celebrating his wedding. This weekend after the surprise attack by Hamas, he was called to his unit for military service.
"They came home and we had an engagement party here for them,” Mark said while looking at a picture of herself with Mataan and Mataan's new wife, who is also Israeli American. "He got called up into a special unit and he’s now fighting, and his new bride is volunteering."
"His grandfather was in the IDF, his father was in the IDF and he felt this was his legacy."
The pictures across Mark's kitchen counter remind her what's at risk in this war.
“I'm terribly scared," Mark said. "I'm frightened for the Israeli people, I'm frightened for my children and my grandchildren, I'm frightened for the Palestinians. I don't want war — I want peace.”
The brutal and devastating images coming from Israel and Gaza have been hard for Mark to see.
“I can't put on TV anymore — I can't," she said. "I can't put on CNN, I can't put on the Israeli station I get, I can't see the killings.”
Mataan is one of many grandchildren and great grandchildren Mark has living in Tel Aviv. The youngest is just 3 years old.
"The alarms go off and they go in these bomb shelters. Every apartment has a bomb shelter. They live in Tel Aviv. They take the mattresses and they sleep there," Mark said. "It's not right. It's not right for anybody's children, for anybody’s.”
Mark says she calls her daughter several times each day to check in, asking them to find a way to come back home to Michigan.
“They say 'this is our homeland' and they're very staunch in protecting their homeland, which I applaud them for and I respect them for that, and I love them for that," Mark said. "But I want my grandkids home. I want them home. At least until the war is over.”
Mark says she was able to speak with Mataan briefly on the phone to hear his voice. She doesn’t know where exactly he is, only that he is now fighting with his unit.
