Stories from the Bulldozer Attack

Six-month-old Efrat Onterman is left motherless after the murderous terror attack on Wednesday evening in Jerusalem. From the time her mother Batsheva Onterman was crushed to death right next to her during the terrorist’s tractor rampage, Efrat was already placed in the hands of a foster family “that first and foremost embraced her.” Afterwards, she was placed in her aunt’s care.

This heart-wrenching story started with the trampling of one of the vehicles during the terrorist’s lethal massacring campaign. Batsheva did not survive, but small Efrat who was by her side was miraculously left untouched.

The 33-year-old mother from Jerusalem will be laid to rest on Wednesday night at 11:30 pm at the Har HaMenuchot cemetery in the city. Elizabeth Goren Friedman, 54 from Jerusalem will be buried there as well. Another person was killed as a result of the malicious attack and dozens of others were injured.

The deadly terror attack in Jerusalem on Wednesday claimed the lives of three people and wreaked havoc on countless families. But perhaps the most touching, and tragic stories remains that of the five-month old baby girl who lost her mother in the rampage.

Eyal Zehavi, a Magen David Adom paramedic who rushed to the scene with his wife treated both the girl and another infant.

“Someone passed the baby to me and screamed, “I just saved her from the car in which her mother was killed,” said Zehavi.

“It took me a minute and a half to check her, I did an extensive examination of her body, looked for broken bones, wounds and breathing difficulties but thankfully she was fine and I transferred her to the ambulance which took her to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.”

Zehavi and his wife, who is seven months pregnant and also in the medical field, helped move the body of the baby girl's mother so it could be evacuated. (YNET)

The Bulldozer of Death

This video shows the path the bulldozer took, including footage showing the terrorist being killed from different angles.

Yet who exactly is this brave soldier?

On IDF "Galei Tzahal" Radio this morning, Orit Struk was interviewed as head of "Human Rights for Residents of YESHA" (West Bank), where she recounted how she knows this particular soldier quite well.

Before the Disengagement, when the pro-settler demonstrations were taking place, this teenager was assigned to film the demonstrations, as testimony to police brutality. While filming from the sidewalk, policemen beat him till he lost consciousness, he was then arrested, denied medical treatment and charged with, "attacking a police officer."

Over the following months, Orit's organization helped the teenager with legal and moral support. The case was eventually dismissed, due to "lack of sufficient evidence", but that is enough to keep a criminal record in Israel, "open". From there his problems only because worse.

When he was of draft age, he tried to enlist to elite units, yet the IDF wanted nothing to do with potential soldiers who had demonstrated against the Disengagement. He was sent to see the "Kaban", the IDF psychological evaluations officer to see if he was "fit" to serve, and was sent to him over and over again, as well as to other committees. He did not give up, and insisted he wanted to fight in Israel's elite IDF units. After close to a year of "bucking the system", he was allowed to join the elite "Egoz" unit. Orit added that this is currently the situation for hundreds of teenagers who demonstrated against the Disengagement.

We clearly see that this brave soldier is truly worthy of being in an elite unit, and its a shame the system tried it's best to discourage him.

Over the past few months, we see more and more "soldiers on leave" who have stopped terrorists. Maybe if we had more soldiers on leave, the country would be a safer place?

Warning: Semi-graphic picture ahead....

And who is this smiling gentleman?

It's the terrorist who drove the bulldozer. His family is complaining that he shouldn't have been shot.

The lawyer representing the family of bulldozer driver Hossam Dawyyat of east Jerusalem, who murdered three people and injured dozens during a killing spree in Jerusalem on Wednesday, said Thursday that had the police cuffed the terrorist's hands and legs and removed him from the vehicle, the incident would have ended at once and "life would have been spared."

The terror attack's third victim, Jean Relevy, 68, of Jerusalem, was laid to rest on Thursday afternoon.

Issam, the terrorist's brother, said the Dawyyat family refused to believe that their son carried out a terror attack.

"My brother did not belong to any organization. He wasn’t even a religious person. After terror attacks he always used to say, 'What is this nonsense? Why do we need this?'"

According to the brother, the incident may have been a road accident which had gone wrong. "Any person responsible for a road accident is alarmed and afraid. This can happen to anyone, and this could have been a road accident. It's possible that my brother was scared when people started chasing him and shooting," he told Ynet.

However, Issam did not rule out the possibility that his brother had lost control and gone on a rampage under the influence of drugs. "It was easy to irritate him. He had a criminal record for violence offenses and he was punished for this." (YNET)

This is what was taken away.

Why do we give up bodies of terrorists for burial? Let our enemies beg us for them.

















Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד