Windsor welcomes family fleeing Israel-Hamas fight

Dan and Viktorya Robenko pictured with their two young children. (Source: Dan & Viktorya Robenko)

Amid escalating tensions between their home country of Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza strip, Dan and Viktorya Robenko made the decision to flee the Middle East all together with their two young children.

“We said, we don't want to raise our kids in this pressure,” said Dan. “It's like, save the kids and take them to the safe place.”

The safe place the Robenkos chose is Windsor and they arrived in the city Sunday with help from the local Jewish Federation.

He said he’d never been to Windsor before, but so far he likes it.

“It’s a new experience for me. It’s exciting,” he said.

Robenko was born in Ukraine but moved to Israel with his family when he was nine. His wife is originally from Russia.

The couple had been living in Netanya, an Israeli city with about the same population as Windsor.

“It’s in the middle of the country,” he described.

He said they had already been looking into relocating to Canada, but Hamas’ October 7 attack hurried them along.

“We all felt the striking missiles,” Robenko said. “People are not the same. It became unsafe for everybody.”

The Windsor Jewish Federation and Community Centre will host a welcome event Monday evening for the Robenkos and other newcomers to the area.

Executive director Daniel Brotman says this is one way their supporting local Jews as they grapple with the situation overseas.

Kids are also partaking in card writing campaigns, with a bake sale raising funds for Israel. The community centre is also hosting informational sessions for members of the community.

“But our position from the beginning has been that we do not want to import this conflict to Windsor-Essex,” Brotman said.

Robenko said he and his family hope to stay in Windsor.

“We’ll stay for maybe forever,” he said.