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Friday, October 27, 2023
Vol. 98, No. 43
LIVING 50 PLUS
RABBI’S FAMILY RETURNS FROM ISRAEL
KAIMAN, De DeSENA TRADE BLOWS AT DEBATE
PAGES 25-28
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SCHOOL SPIRIT
Great Neck residents honored by Blakeman Natalie Sanandaji narrowly escaped Hamas attack BY K A R I N A KO VA C Nassau County executive Bruce Blakeman gave a citation to Tribe of Nova music festival survivor Natalie Sanandaji, 28, and Shop Delight employee Shuke Ma, who donated a week’s pay to support Israel, on Monday for their courage and support during the Israel/ Palestine conflict. “She has been a witness,” Blakeman said of Sanandaji, “a witness to the terror that took place and she’s traveling around and meeting with various groups, and being on various media outlets, to tell the truth as to what happened. The savagery, the butchery of innocent civilians, young
people. It’s something that should shock everybody.” Sanandaji, a Jewish New Yorker born to Israeli and Iranian parents, narrowly escaped Hamas’s assault on the music festival celebrating the festival of Sukkot near the border with the Gaza Strip Oct. 7. At least 260 attendees at the festival were killed in the surprise attack, according to Israeli rescue service Zaka. More were taken hostage. Sanandaji recalled camping at the festival with a few friends when one of them said some rockets had been fired in their direction and everyone should be alert, but it was a normal occurrence. But soon the
rockets kept coming, the Great Neck resident said, and they realized this was not an ordinary situation with the number of rockets fired climbing to 10, then 20. Security stopped the music and asked everyone to evacuate. Her group began walking and stopped at a restroom, only to find out that later that moments after she was there, Hamas soldiers shot into the bathrooms. Walking to their cars, the group was unaware that Hamas terrorist were on foot with guns. While driving out of the festival grounds, security told everyone to pull over and run. Continued on Page 42
4 Atria Park residents hospitalized in outbreak County hazmat unit responds to assisted-living facility BY K A R I N A KO VA C PHOTO COURTESY OF GREAT NECK PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Great Neck North Blazers showed their school spirit at the pep rally last week during homecoming weekend.
Four residents of the Atria Park assisted-living facility in Great Neck Plaza were hospitalized Sunday while complaining of “gastrointestinal discomfort,” Chief Fire Marshal Michael Uttaro said. Uttaro said the Manhasset Lakeville Fire Department received a call for a sick female on the second floor of the Community Room of the facility at 6:49 p.m. Sunday evening. MLFD EMS Capt. Lee Genser requested MLFD fire units to respond after the initial EMS crew encountered more than one resident
complaining of gastrointestinal discomfort. Ambulances from Great Neck Vigilant Fire Dept., New Hyde Park FD, Port Washington FD, and Nassau County Emergency Ambulance Bureau were called in to respond since more than one resident felt ill. The Nassau County Fire Marshal Hazardous Materials Response Team was requested by MLFD Chief Michael Farrone at the scene to respond with multi-gas-detection meters to investigate if carbon monoxide or the possibility of any odors were causing the problems residents were having.
The Fire department and NCFM Hazmat team found no issues with the air quality. Uttaro said four residents were transported to local hospitals for evaluation with three going to North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset and one to St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn. As of Tuesday, one resident has been returned to the facility with no symptoms, Newsday reported. The current status of the three hospitalized patients was not disclosed. However, fire officials had previously reported that all patients Continued on Page 43