Woman returns to Charlotte after escaping war-torn Israel

CHARLOTTE — A woman told Channel 9 about her harrowing journey from war-torn Israel to Charlotte.

Suzy Johnson, of Charlotte, said she was on a trip to Israel with her sister, who is an Episcopal priest in Virginia, and some of her parishioners.

Johnson is back home but her sister is still there because she wouldn’t leave her parishioners behind.

Johnson said she stayed calm when the violence erupted Saturday.

“Security -- the gates were walled, and locked, and they had 24-hour security, and they were watching the cameras, so I felt very, very safe there,” she said.

Johnson had been planning the 10-day trip for about a year with her sister.

They had been there for two days when the violence began.

They were in a group of about 33 people staying in a secure compound in east Jerusalem.

Johnson said she felt safe on Saturday until friends started calling and telling her that she needed to get out.

At the time, they were hunkered down in the basement of the compound close to the bomb shelter.

“It was daunting because you’d hear the alarms go off,” she said. “I think only one bomb got close to Jerusalem, but you’d hear all day long the sirens. And you could hear the Iron Dome, the anti-aircraft missiles. You could hear those very clearly.”

Johnson got to the airport to fly out the next morning. She said there were 3,000 people at the airport at 3 a.m.

Johnson’s sister and the four parishioners are hoping to get to Jordan on Thursday and head home from there.

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