A Note from Netanya
An email from our pal Nathan in Netanya yesterday (author of our weekly - each Tuesday - Aliyah Diary):
Bombing in Netanya yesterday. Quite terrible. The guard who was
killed, grabbed the fellow by the shoulder as he appeared suspicious.
At the same time, a policewoman driving by saw the same fellow and
shouted out to the guard to pull the man's hand from his bag. She
jumped out of her car and ran towards them. As the man blew himself
up, she fell to the ground four meters away.
One question asked here, is whether the guard should have simply shot
the man. But, there is also concern here that being too quick on the
draw (as happened with a soldier and a 15 year old a few weeks back)
can kill innocents. Not easy at all. I was in Netanya studying
Hebrew; quite safe from the bombing, but somber the mood afterwards.
Four killed on the spot; a half dozen critically wounded and some
dozens wounded. Life continues, but it dampens people's spirits. The
mall where it happened was splattered with blood for hours afterwards;
the tiles on the wall lifted away and pock-marked from shrapnel.
Too many are suffering. It does seem to me that the palestinians have
a talent mostly for destruction. Saul Bellow once wrote that the Germans
were good at two things: making cars and killing Jews. Seems that the
palestinians have only got the knack for half the job.
Update from Nathan today:
Those confirmed dead include Eliyah Rosen, a 39 year old mother of
three, a psychologist; Daniel Golani, 45 , who had come to the mall to
look at opening a store; Naim Amram, 26, the guard who apprehended the
bomber, but did not shoot him, a graduate from the air force;
Alexhandra Garmitzki, 65 , from Ukraine, whose only son is a doctor;
and Keinan Tzoami, 19, who requested delay in army service in order to
help his father's carpentry shop. Zichron L'vracha.
The policewoman, Shoshana Atiay-Deloya had drawn her gun as she ran
towards the bomber, but didn't shoot as there were too many people
around.
