[VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]
Moshe Korman believed that he will never merit meeting the people who saved his life 13 years ago. Officials in Magen David Adom responded to the challenge, tracking down the crew that responded to the call for the terror attack in the Rishon L’tzion club on May 7, 2002.
15 people were killed and 55 wounded in a crowded game club in Rishon L’tzion when a suicide bomber detonated a powerful charge in the 3rd floor Sheffield Club causing part of the building to collapse. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
In 2002 Moshe and gravely injured and his wife Pazit sustained moderate injuries in the bombing attack. MDA teams treated dozens of wounded and Moshe was transported to Tel Hashomer Hospital where doctors saved his life B’chasdei Hashem. Moshe was then compelled to complete a long painful road of rehabilitation.
For Moshe and his wife, they simply wanted to say “thank you” to the EMS team that saved their lives, or the “angels in white” as they refer to the MDA personnel. The weeks and months became years but Moshe never gave up, determined to meet and thank the EMS personnel. Moshe tried on his own for some time to meet the people, telling officials that all he remembers from the emergency room is that there was a paramedic who wore a kippa. After years of searching on his own Moshe turned to MDA for assistance. MDA did just that, tracking down the yarmulke-wearing paramedic along with two other paramedics who were involved in the life-saving efforts.
MDA organized the emotional meeting between Moshe, his wife and the MDA paramedics Avshalom Ovadia, Doron Margitai and Ronen Cohen.
Ovadia drove the vehicle to Tel Hashomer while Margitai and Cohen continued the treatment. Cohen responded to the scene from his home after hearing of the bomb attack. They met in Moshe’s home together with their four daughters, two born following the attack. They spoke of the attack and the life since, thanking the medics for being the shluchim who kept them alive until the hospital, where doctors continued life-saving efforts. Moshe thanked them for never giving up despite his grave injuries.
Avshalom Ovadia was among the first EMS responders on the scene, recalling the panic, hysteria and darkness that prevailed at the scene. “There were many dead and injured on the ground when I arrived” Avshalom recalls, adding “Moshe was gravely wounded, lying among the dead”.
Moshe told them he learned that while he was in rehab they checked up on him, pleased with the fact he survived and was fighting to get back his life. Paramedic Ronen Cohen during the meeting stated emotionally “When I came to you after the attack and Moshe said to me ‘you made my day’ and I remember I responded to you ‘and you made my year’”.
Moshe told them he wants to give something back and plans to volunteer at MDA in whatever capacity he can assist. Paramedic Margitai explained he is an instructed in MDA’s paramedic school and he plans to bring Moshe in to speak to his students to tell his story.
The victims of the attack: Esther Bablar, 54, of Bat Yam; Yitzhak Bablar, 57, of Bat Yam; Avi Bayaz, 26, of Nes Tziona; Regina Malka Boslan, 62, of Jaffa; Edna Cohen, 61, of Holon; Rafael Haim, 64, of Tel-Aviv; Penina Hikri, 60, of Tel-Aviv; Nawa Hinawi, 51, of Tel-Aviv; Rachamim Kimchi, 58, of Rishon L’tzion; Nir Lovatin, 31, of Rishon L’tzion; Shoshana Magmari, 51, of Tel-Aviv; Dalia Masa, 56, of Nachalat Yehuda; Rassan Sharouk, 60, of Holon; Israel Shikar, 49, of Rishon L’tzion; and Anat Teremforush, 36, of Ashdod HY”D.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
One can learn volumes about the Israeli mentality from watching these people interact, or what ever you want to call it that they are doing. I have been here for 19 years, and I still find it like nails on a chalkboard.
Compare this video to any of the hundreds on the internet of recovering victims in the US meeting their rescuers, and you will see the gulf in how normal “friendly” conversations are conducted in Israel.