Michal Landau-Salomon, who saved her children in the massacre in N’vei Tzuf, reconstructs the moment when the terrorist infiltrated the house, the resourcefulness and the cold-blooded call to the rescue forces: “I held the door with all my strength because it was not locked”, she explains.
“I started to hear screams and shouts, I held the door with all my might because it was not locked, I lost my sense of time but I did not leave the handle, I called the police and reported the incident with all the children around me,” recalls Michal Landau, whose husband Elad was murdered along with her dad and sister. She describes the moments when she realized that a terrorist had entered the house.
In a reconstruction for Yediot Achronot, Michal said that they sat together for a festive Shabbat dinner with Aunt Chaya. At the end of the meal, Michal retired with her children to the living room, while the rest of the family gathered in the kitchen.
“I realized that something bad was happening” she explains.
“When she realized that a terrorist had penetrated the house, Michal said, “I saw a profile of a person who had gone into the kitchen, and the terrorist apparently saw them through the window and went into the house, and he did not see me and came straight to them. And I immediately understand that something is wrong, that something bad is happening, “she said.
“I immediately took the three children up quickly, where the twins slept, and it was important for me to keep the children first, no matter what, I began to hear and shouts, I held the door handle with all my might because it was not locked”.
She explained she was in the room with her children, 5,9, 11 and 1-year-old twins. She called authorities and reported the attack, detailing what shew knew and the children heard every word.
“I called police and told them while the children were around me. I heard the horrible screams and the gunshots, and after a time, that felt like an eternity, I realized it was over. I went downstairs and saw Elad. I understood that my husband was not among the living”.
A bit later she realized that 46-year-old Aunt Chaya and Grandfather Yosef (71) were gone too. Elad, her husband and father of five, worked in computers and was going to celebrate his 36th birthday in two months. They are residents of Elad, where the family is sitting shiva.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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9 Responses
Such a horrifc tragedy. When the time is right, there needs to be a discussion among the frum tzibur of how to better defend against such attacks. Its difficult to understand why so many people could not take down a single attacke whose only weapon was knife, not some automatic weapon. The security forces need to provide practical guidance on self-defense to families who never could imagine they would be the targets of such attacks. Clearly these animals know no bounds.
Animals disguised as people.
after a time, I realized it was over One thing they have trained us at work is, that if ever there is a shooting Heaven Forbid, it never lasts longer than 10 minutes, and usually a lot shorter than that.
With so maney jews being killed in the last few weeks in israel. Maybe it’s not the safest place for jews to live there.
Mayer Freund!
That’s just what the רשעים ארורים are hoping to achieve.
USnebech,
Why do their hopes affect what we should be doing for safety? Is your love of נצחון worth losing Jewish lives?
I once read a book on self-defense which said (separately) that in terms of how dangerous they are, anyone with a knife in their hand is a martial arts master, and that attacks with lethal intent are virtually impossible to defend against.
(Being surprised while sitting down is a bad position to defend from, too.)
Love of Eretz Yisroel maybe? Most poskim consider it to be a mitzvah to live in E’Y even b’zmaneinu.
After 9/11 and other attacks, people questioned whether the US was a safe place to live. The same question comes up any time there is an attack R”L in a presumed safe area.
It’s not just a matter of proving anything. Everyone needs to know where they are comfortable, and not keep running from place to place based on either the terrorists’ wishes C”V, or others’ opinions.