Club reopens less than a week after bombing
Photo: Reuters
Bombed club reopens
Less than a week after suicide attack, Tel Aviv's Stage nightclub is again open for business
TEL AVIV - The Stage nightclub in Tel Aviv reopened Thursday, less than a week after a suicide bomber struck at the venue and murdered five people.
The club's owners decided to reopen the site before the seven days of mourning are up as a message to terrorists that life goes on.
The venue's entrance has been renovated, the lobby was repainted, and virtually all signs of the attack have been removed prior to Thursday's performance.
All proceeds from Thursday's show, which featured popular local singer Maya Buskila, were donated to Beilinson hospital in Petah Tikva.
Buskila said she was supposed to celebrate her brother's birthday at the club a day after the bombing.
"It took us almost a month to plan it," she said. "He was supposed to propose to his girlfriend, and I was going to get up on stage and sing."
Buskila said the attack was particularly difficult for her because she knows the club's employees and regular revelers.
"I started my career at that club," she said.
The reopening is not too hasty, Buskila said, and added there is no choice but to move on.
"That's our life and that's the State of Israel, until better days come," she said.
Injured security manager vows to return
Returning to the club for the first time since the bombing was not easy said security manager Tsachi Uami, who sustained light injuries in the attack.
"All the difficult scenes came back to me," he said. "I was holding the injured and dead in my hands."
Another security manager, Micha Mizrachi, said two of the guards injured in the attack told him they would be unable to return to work.
"I said I'm coming back here because I don't want to let some bastard who blew up here to change our lives," he said.
