July 22, 2008...
by Shmuel Sackett
Co-founder and International Director
Manhigut Yehudit
The following is an eyewitness report by Shmuel Sackett, International Director of Manhigut Yehudit, of today's terror attack in Jerusalem.
Today at 1:57 pm, I parked my car about 200 feet from theKing David Hotel. I got out of the car, as did my wife, Rhonda and Manhigut Yehudit President Moshe Feiglin. We were headed to a lunch meeting with Ben Landa, Manhigut Chairman of the Board, who had arrived a few hours earlier and was staying in the King David. We started walking when – about 10 FEET IN FRONT OF US (no exaggeration) we saw a large bulldozer drop his huge bucket in an attempt to crush a woman crossing the street. Baruch Hashem (Thank G-d), she managed to avoid it by a few inches!
The bulldozer - now obviously to us driven by a terrorist - then raced into the middle of King David Street in an attempt to smash into a passing commuter bus. The driver quickly swerved out of the way yet the bulldozer managed to smash into the rear of the bus on the “passenger” side. The bus smashed into some guard rails but quickly turned down a side street - by the Dan Panorama Hotel - to avoid any further attacks by the bulldozer. That bus driver was an AMAZINGLY quick thinker and saved MANY lives!!
The Arab attacker – who lived in Jerusalem and had an Israeli identity card – continued driving the bulldozer down King David Street in the direction of the Inbal Hotel. I immediately started running after him at full speed – praying to Hashem that he would not injure any more Jews and that I would have the merit to personally kill him. He smashed into a parked car on the left - Baruch Hashem it was empty - then into two cars in front of him. In the first of those two cars he pinned a man inside, although he was just mildly injured. The second car he managed to completely flip over and seriously injure a man. I kept running towards the bulldozer.
When I was about 20 feet away, a civilian came from the left. He started shooting into the cabin of the bulldozer. Then, from the right hand side, a Border Policeman shot about 7 bullets from his M-16. The bulldozer came to a stop and the terror was over.
I immediately ran back to the man that was seriously injured and saw that the lower part of his leg was severed. I called Dovid Shirel, who was in the King David Hotel already having lunch with Ben. Dovid is Manhigut Yehudit's Educational Director and also a highly experienced paramedic. He came flying out of the hotel and was the first paramedic on the scene. He administered IV to the man and helped him until the ambulances arrived.
When I turned around I saw Moshe helping the injured man as well. Moshe spoke to him, found out his name and also that he was an attorney. Dovid told Moshe to keep talking to him since that would help keep him calm. I saw many people crying and screaming and tried the best I could to help relax my fellow Jews. It wasn’t easy.
Within minutes, police arrived as did the Israeli SWAT team. Helicopters flew overhead, police on horses charged in, ambulances and ZAKA motor-scooters sped in and the media set up shop to start their reporting. Things happened faster than I would have believed.
We immediately sent a “beeper alert” to the media that Moshe Feiglin was an eyewitness to the terror attack - of the Jerusalem Arab with an Israeli identity card - and his cellphone started ringing. Moshe gave live reports on the radio and TV in both Hebrew and English.
People asked if anyone was killed and when we answered “no” – they immediately said “Baruch Hashem” and put on a happy face. While it is true that we must thank Hashem for the fact that there were no fatalities, we must NEVER FORGET the injured. This young attorney may lose his leg. Even if doctors manage to re-attach it – his life is changed FOREVER!!!
And what about the trauma? What about the people that went into shock? What about the fear? What about the tears?
I do not know the Hebrew name of this attorney and do not want to reveal his family name, in case his family has not yet found out about his injury. Still, please pray for him. Have a nice young Jewish man in your prayers who may never walk again, G-d forbid. Have ALL of Klal Yisrael in your prayers because… we REALLY need it!
May Hashem watch over His people and protect us from harm. Amen.
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