On Saturday morning, a group of five Jewish men were on their way to the Western Wall. They were wearing white shirts, as it is a custom for many to honor Shabbat, and they had just passed the entrance of the City of David, a major archaeological site located on the outskirts of the Old City of Jerusalem in a neighborhood predominantly inhabited by Arab residents.
Suddenly, someone walking in the opposite direction started to shoot at them. Security camera footage shows the attacker, who turned out to be a 13-year-old Palestinian, trying to hide behind a car as he shot. One of his victims, an off-duty officer who was carrying his gun, managed to return the fire, despite his injuries. He was later evacuated to the Sharei Zedek Medical Center with the other victim, his 47-year-old father. Both of them were described as in serious but stable conditions.
The attack came only a few hours after another Palestinian terrorist from East Jerusalem had killed seven people and injured another three in the Neve Yaakov neighborhood on Friday night, murdering 14-year-old boy Asher Natan, Natali and Eli Mizrahi, 45 and 48, a couple recently married who left their Shabbat dinner to help, Ilya Sosansky, 26, Rafael Ben Eliyahu, 56, Irina Korolova, 59, and Shaul Hai, 68.
For those who survive terrorism, new attacks always bring back painful memories.
Over twenty years ago, David Rubin and his son were also victims of a terror attack. Since then, he has made supporting other survivors one of his life missions.
At the end of 2001, Rubin, a former mayor of Shiloh, was driving home from Jerusalem with his three-year-old son, when the car was ambushed by three Fatah terrorists and he was shot in the leg by a gunman with an AK-47 assault rifle. The boy was hit in the head causing a skull fracture and internal bleeding in the cerebellum. Miraculously, the bullet missed his brain stem by one millimeter and he survived.
“Thank God, my son is physically okay now,” Rubin says. “But he is still dealing with the experience emotionally to this day.”
Transformed by the experience, Rubin wanted to build something positive after the event. In 2004, he established the Shiloh Israel Children’s Fund in order to help children living in the biblical heartland to recover from the traumas that sadly have emerged from the frequent terror attacks. This magnificent organization supports therapeutic, educational, and recreational programs.
“We saw so many people coping with the horrific after-effects,” he added. “The children in Jerusalem, as well as Judea and Samaria, have suffered disproportionately from terrorism, and we know how to heal them, but we need the support of those who want to stand with Israel and its children in these difficult days.”
Help us heal more children who have recently been targeted by terrorists.
