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Ridgway man returns to Israel; parents still missing
News
By Erin McIntyre erin@ouraynews.com, on December 6, 2023
Ridgway man returns to Israel; parents still missing

They said they would come visit when the house in Ridgway was finished. They had a new grandson they wanted to meet, too. Rahm Haggai kept working on the house, building on weekends when he had time off.

Now, “I don’t think they’re coming,” he said, shaking his head.

After eight weeks of chaos, little information and no certainty of what happened to his parents, Haggai doesn’t think they’re alive. The last communication anyone had from them was the morning of Oct. 7, when Judih Weinstein and Gadi Haggai were out for an early morning walk near their community, about a mile from the Gaza border.

“We’re outside. Face down in a field,” Weinstein texted to her family. “We see tons of rockets.”

It was around 6:50 a.m. They were only 2 kilometers from home, but they never made it back.

They’re still missing. Bits of information have come to the family over the past few weeks, since his parents disappeared on the day now called Black Shabbat. There’s a recording of a 911 call with Judih – in which she said her husband had been shot in the head and was unresponsive. In the same call, she reports that she’s hurt, too.

There’s a poor-quality image from an Israeli Army intelligence recording.

“I can tell it’s my dad, being thrown onto a Hamas truck like a dead deer, on the way to Gaza. But I didn’t see my mom there,” he said.

Another surveillance recording showed his parents hiding from Hamas in some trees, when two terrorists on motorcycles ride toward them, shooting.

“I know my dad is dead for sure. He was shot in the head,” Haggai said. A kibbutz ambulance attempted to come help them but was also ambushed, he said.

The family initially received information that the Israeli government thought their parents had been kidnapped, due to signals from their cellphones. But that doesn’t seem to be true now, given the new information they received, Haggai said.

His father had left his cellphone at home. That phone signal was later detected in Gaza, indicating looters took it. The lack of information has been frustrating. Haggai thinks about how it took nine hours for the government to show up, to help his parents and the other residents of the Israeli kibbutz who were attacked. He’s angry that the government didn’t take intelligence seriously, warning this attack was coming.

He keeps building the house in Ridgway and waits. His community is small – around 400 people – and he knows the victims identified from Kibbutz Nir Oz, the hostages, the people telling stories about their homes being ransacked and their families murdered. They’re his classmates, his friends, his community.

Mostly, he’s tried to just keep going with life.

Rahm Haggai holds his 4-month-old son, Oak, and plays with his oldest son, Reef, who is 3 1/2, at their home in Ridgway. Haggai and his partner, Sydney Mendel, departed for Israel on Dec. 3. Haggai’s parents have been missing since their community, Kibbutz Nir Oz, was invaded and bombed by Hamas on Oct. 7. He has little information about what happened to them, and believes his father is dead.
Erin McIntyre – Ouray County Plaindealer

 

Initially, he felt an urge to go back to Israel, but his siblings and friends there told him there wasn’t anything he could do. It was mass confusion. No one knew what was going on. He was better off waiting. For the first week, he jumped awake when his phone buzzed in the night. Now, he waits to look at the messages.

They hoped to have more news when more than 100 hostages were released by Hamas during a week-long pause in fighting. But as of last weekend, there was nothing.

His parents, who he described as practical people, wouldn’t want their family to be paralyzed with mourning, he said. “Don’t even waste your time on a funeral for us,” he thinks they would tell them. Though, his father always wanted his body donated to the University of Tel Aviv for research. He was 72 when he went missing.

“His joke was, he didn’t get into university unless he was dead,” Haggai said.

Haggai and his family – including his partner, Sydney Mendel, and his sons Reef and Oak, left Sunday for Israel. He hopes to learn more about what happened while he’s there, and visit family.

On this two-week trip, Haggai will return to the kibbutz. He’ll go to the 800-square-foot, modest concrete home where he and his three siblings grew up. The place where his parents got up early and meditated, and his 70-year-old mom wrote a haiku every day. Where they lived and dreamed of peace with Palestine.

He thinks of the others from his community who have nothing now. Their cars have been burned, their homes destroyed. Farmers living in hotels in the city now, without work, displaced from their livelihoods.

“What are they supposed to do?” he asked.

Haggai and Mendel have established an online fundraiser for the community of Kibbutz Nir Oz. Visit GoFundMe and Survivors of Kibbutz Nir Oz by Rahm Haggai to donate.

Hickenlooper hears concerns from constituents
News
Hickenlooper hears concerns from constituents
Loss of federal funds prompts requests for help with wildfire mitigation, water and more
By LIA SALVATIERRA 
August 29, 2025
U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper encouraged Ouray County nonprofits and public officials to persevere, find ways to do more with less money and look for opportunities to change systems during moments of tu...
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News
Closures on Red Mountain expected for next few weeks
Five-hour closures scheduled Tuesday-Thursday for power line upgrades
By Erin 
August 29, 2025
Motorists traveling over Red Mountain Pass should expect lengthy weekday delays starting next week, as San Miguel Power Association continues to rebuild its power line on the pass. A roughly three-mil...
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Bears start packing on pounds
Main, News...
Bears start packing on pounds
Wildlife officials urge residents to avoid attracting bruins as they seek food before hibernating
By Erin McIntyre erin@ouraynews.com 
August 27, 2025
Bears have entered the time of year where they seek food for at least 20 hours a day, trying to pack on the pounds before the first snow flies. The compulsive eating, called hyperphagia, helps prepare...
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Main, News...
Fatal crash on pass involved marijuana
By Erin McIntyre erin@ouraynews.com 
August 27, 2025
The driver of the vehicle that went off Red Mountain Pass on Aug. 5 had a significant amount of marijuana in his system, according to toxicology results from his autopsy. Tests showed 42-year-old Loui...
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News
City proceeds with plans to remodel city hall, police station
By Mike Wiggins mike@ouraynews.com 
August 27, 2025
The city of Ouray is moving ahead with plans to remodel a portion of the Ouray Community Center and a building across the street that will house the police department. City councilors earlier this mon...
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News
Trust to preserve, donate more Red Mountain mining claims
Nonprofit under contract to purchase land near Ironton Park
By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
August 27, 2025
Another cluster of mining claims on Red Mountain Pass will be preserved for the public and protected from further development. The Trust for Land Restoration, a Ridgway-based nonprofit organization, i...
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Public Health urges stricter tobacco regs
Nurse recommends requiring local retail licenses; gas stations say program unnecessary
By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
August 27, 2025
Ouray County Public Health is asking local governments to more strictly regulate nicotine and tobacco retailers to help prevent underage use, by requiring local retail licenses on top of state-require...
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County lodging tax question will be on November ballot
August 27, 2025
Ouray County voters living in the unincorporated part of the county – outside Ridgway and Ouray – will be asked to approve a new 6% county lodging tax to fund local law enforcement, fire protection se...
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EMS, public health school partner to assess new program
August 27, 2025
Ouray County Emergency Medical Services is partnering with the Colorado School of Public Health to assess the need for a new community paramedic program. Paramedic Cat Lichtenbelt said EMS is aiming t...
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Ridgway Athletic Park open house set for Aug. 28
August 27, 2025
The town of Ridgway will host an open house tonight (Thursday) to elicit public input on the design of baseball fields and pickleball courts at the Ridgway Athletic Park. The meeting is scheduled for ...
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Temporary road closures set for Aug. 28, Sept. 9
August 27, 2025
Motorists traveling between the valley floor and Log Hill Mesa should prepare for temporary road closures and lengthy detours today (Aug. 28) and Sept. 9 as the Ouray County Road and Bridge Department...
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Ridgway, Colorado 81432
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