Hours after shots rang out just outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday, 16-year-old Michael Bassin called his parents in Montgomery by cell phone to let them know he was unharmed.

        He had been just blocks away from a shooting that killed three.

        Earlier in the day, a suicide bomber exploded a bus in Northern Israel during the morning rush, killing himself and nine passenger. Wednesday, a cell phone-detonated bomb killed seven, including five Americans in a busy cafeteria at Hebrew University.

        But tonight, the Sycamore High School student returns to his family, thousands of miles away from the war zone he has called home for four weeks. While overseas, Michael journeyed to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv during one of the most intense times in the nation's history.

        “We didn't hear the shots, but we saw the officers rushing,” said Michael of Sunday's shooting, by phone on his final night in Israel. “You can tell that things are different here. We are strained with security. There are a lot of soldiers on the streets. But you feel a lot safer that way.

        “It is still a wonderful place to be.”

        Sponsored by the United Synagogue Youth, the trip transported 19 teenagers from the United States to Israel for four weeks, after a two-week stint in Eastern Europe. Michael, who is president of his Jewish youth group in Northern Hills, traveled to Israel during calmer times in 2000.

        “It was a lot different then,” he said, adding that this time around there are more restrictions, and it is much quieter because fewer tourists roam the streets.

        “After a bombing, you think, what if?” Michael said. “But most of the time, I've been relaxed.”

        For his parents, “the hardest part was before he left,” said his mother, Gayna Bassin, hours after speaking to her son. “I had a lot of anxiety. But now that he is there, he is in God's hands, and we are just very proud of him.”

        Also returning from Israel tonight is Naomi Karp, a 17-year-old from Blue Ash, who traveled with 80 fellow teens during nearly six weeks in Israel and a week in Spain, sponsored by the same organization.

        The violence “is on our minds constantly,” said her father, Elliot Karp, chief development officer of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, who says he's traveled to Israel more than a hundred times.

        He saw his daughter last month during a weeklong business trip to the troubled nation.

        Naomi and Michael were among about 30 teens from Greater Cincinnati who traveled to Israel this summer, compared to 70 last year and about 180 in 2000, Mr. Karp said.

        “The situation is dramatically different because of all these terrorist attacks,” he added.

        For Michael's father, Jeff, when the terror strikes, “the first thought is where is it, and where is he,” Mr. Bassin said. “Obviously you worry.” But the prospect of the experience gained by the journey outweighed the parent's fears.

        Before Naomi left, Mr. Karp discussed with his daughter that “you cannot take for granted that life in Israel is the way it is in the United States. You have to look at things as Israelis do. When you see things that don't look right, you report it,” he said.

        But, from his daughter's reports, “Israel is the normal Israel she anticipated,” he said, adding that he is excited to hear about her new friends and how she's grown during her latest trip.

        Naomi has been there twice before.

        From Israel, Michael echoed those sentiments, saying, “it is the worst time possible to have been in our homeland, but it is still important. Now, more than ever, the Jewish people need Israel.”

        The Associated Press contributed.

Police discipline unequal
Water restrictions lifted
Year-round schools kick off
BRONSON: Critters worse than acid rain
Community rallies to open fresh market
For slain woman's father, justice a trial of patience
Profs, students head down the river
Teens return from intense times in Israel
Mt. Healthy schools put 8.99-mill levy on ballot
Blood shortage affects Tristate, Dayton
Forest Park aims for safety
Good News: Library welcomes pets, owners
Local Digest
You Asked For It
Congrats
Firefighter devoted to youth
Man injured when plane flips on landing
McNUTT: Sampler of events
Brownfield cleanup money awarded to best-laid plans
Ind. man killed, Ky. officer hurt in shootout
Suspect in shooting of Ky. trooper dead
Lawyers: Archbishop didn't break law
Prison offers inmates yoga classes