Jerusalem – Three yeshiva boys were sitting around the bag, I screamed “Get out of here! That’s a suspicious bag!” This was how David Amuyal described the scene of Wednesday’s bombing from his hospital bed. Amuyal, whose call to the police just seconds before the blast most likely saved lives, is suffering from a fractured pelvis, steel pellets have penetrated his body and shrapnel is deeply embedded in his left hand and leg.
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Amuyal’s brother in law, Shimshon Moshe, who owns the kiosk hit in the attack, arrived at the scene to examine the damage and start the cleanup. “Everything is like Sodom and Gomorrah here, I cleaned and swept the mess away and we’re over it,” he said.
“I got there at 12 pm and things were business as usual. As I was working a haredi guy came into the kiosk and told me ‘there’s a bag outside’. People constantly come in here telling me ‘there’s a suspicious case or bag over there’, I’m used to it, I didn’t get excited, I went outside and saw a black duffel bag on a rock near the phone booth.”
“There were three young yeshiva boys sitting around it, around 14-15 years old,” Amuyal added, reconstructing Wednesday’s events. “I looked at the bag and had a very strong bad feeling about it. It was new, very new, with a zipper and it seemed suspicious. At that very moment I told them ‘move quickly, it’s a suspicious object, evacuate the area immediately’.”
Amuyal then took out his cellular phone and called the police to report the suspicious bag. “As I was on the phone I felt a huge blast that threw me back. I was about a meter and a half (4.9 feet) away from the device, I flew 4-5 meters (13-16 feet) back and my body caught fire. I tried to put out the fire with my hands; I got up, walked around 15 meters away from the scene and sat on a railing nearby.”
“I couldn’t roll on the floor to put out the fire, I saw black and felt the shrapnel, at first my legs burned and when I looked down I saw that my stomach was completely open.” Amuyal said that it took time before he felt the pain that gripped his entire body: “Some passersby came very quickly and started to administer first aid, the ambulances and security forces were right behind them.”
Amuyal claims that it was a miracle that he was alive and that the blast didn’t claim more lives, he refuses to take the credit for saving the lives of those near the bomb. “I’m not a hero. I tried, I did as much as I could but I didn’t manage to get everyone away. If not for the miracle, I would be on the other side too. I felt death, I could have escaped but I didn’t.”
Read more at Ynet News.
What did the yeshiva bochurs do? It was the kiosk guy who sounded the warning.
Wouldn’t any bochurim of that age in EY immediately know that a bag like that should have aroused suspicions? That should be part of “Security Awareness 101” in any yeshiva. They are indeed lucky someone else nearby had some sechel and warned them to move away.
Thank G-d that man warned others and helped save lives. May all those injured recovery soon and recovery completely. Am Yisrael Chai!
What’s the significance of the man being “charedi” that it was necessary to stress it in the headline? Does it really matter? Would a non “charedi” person have done less under similar circumstances? Suppose it was a secular or “dati L’umi person, would your headline have read “Thanks to Secular (or Dati L’umi) Man there were fewer casualties”
Pray for the injured (in yesterday’s blast):
Odelia Nechama bat Michal – serious head injuries; in intensive care.
Natan Daniel ben Shulamit – 17-year-old student who in serious condition with massive internal injuries; has had a number of internal organs removed.
Leah Bracha bat Shoshana – 19-year-old seminary student; suffered burns to legs and arms.
David Amoyal – Injuries to legs and feet and lower body; in moderate condition.
Sasson ben Shulamit – Second time injured in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem. Suffered lower body injuries and serious post-traumatic symptoms.
Ad Shapira – 18 years old – about to complete high school. Suffered light orthopedic injuries; in good condition in hospital.
Shilo ben Ofra – 15 years old; suffered burns and fractures to legs and lower abdomen. Sedated in intensive care.
Daniel ben Nurit – 13 years old; suffered lacerations and shrapnel injuries to his lower extremities; likely to be released from the hospital before Shabbos.
Elchanan ben Alona – 14 years old; suffered serious injuries to his feet. One ankle and three toes were crushed.
Netanel ben Shlomit – 18 years old; security guard at bus station. injured in the abdomen.
I hate to crash everybody’s party here, but David Amoyal is not Charedi, nor is his brother-in-law’s name Shimon Moshe; it’s Shimi Atias.
The name I was told for Tehilim for Leah Bracha is Leah Bracha bas Shoshana Basya. The list above omitted Basya.
VIN does not have an agenda in stating that a chareidi man was involved. David Amoyal is the one who made that disctinction. Read the quote from him in the article.