‘A big miracle happened here’: Eyewitness recounts Tel Aviv bombing

Security cameras filmed a man wearing a blue backpack walking down Lehi Road in southern Tel Aviv when it exploded not far from the synagogue.

By Pesach Benson, TPS

In the aftermath of Sunday night’s Tel Aviv terror attack, one of the worshippers in the Rashbi Synagogue that was apparently targeted recounted the scene.

“We prayed here yesterday at eight the evening prayer,” local resident Yehuda Meshulam recalled to The Press Service of Israel.

“In the middle of the prayer there was a horrific explosion, all the windows were shattered. We all panicked and immediately went outside — we only saw smoke, a truck on fire and, the smell of burning. People didn’t understand what was happening.” As people realized a bomb had detonated, somebody called the police.

At first, people assumed it was a criminal incident, but around an hour later, a police officer told him the blast was likely terror-related.

“There was a big miracle here 10 meters from the synagogue,” Meshulam told TPS-IL. The terrorist walked tens of meters, you see him on the cameras passing by shops and nothing happens. Ten meters from the synagogue, he blows himself up. Hashgacha pratit [divine intervention]. Miracle is the word everyone says.”

Security cameras filmed a man wearing a blue backpack walking down Lehi Road in southern Tel Aviv when it exploded not far from the synagogue.

The blast killed the suspect, identified only as a man in his 50s. A 43-year-old passerby suffered a shrapnel injury and was taken to the nearby Ichilov Hospital.

Dr. Eyal Hashavia, director of the hospital’s trauma unit said the victim suffered a penetrating chest injury, but it was not life-threatening.

“He was definitely very lucky,” Hashavia said.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the bombing on Monday, saying it was carried out in cooperation with Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Meshulam told TPS-IL he believes a disaster was averted in the merit of several yeshiva students who came to the synagogue to study during summer break.

He explained that the Chief Rabbi of Bnei Brak visited the students and told them, “The fact that there are people here who study even during their vacation is the preservation of all of Tel Aviv.”

Meshulam thought the rabbi said that to simply encourage the students.

But, “Four days after that, everyone understood what this sentence meant when there are guys here every day who study at the expense of vacation – a terrorist can walk down the street and 10 meters in front of the synagogue to blow himself up only. It is a miracle, there is no other word to describe it.”