Victims tell what they saw at mall
Photo; AFP
'I saw him blow up'
Michal Buchnik, 23, says she saw Palestinian suicide bomber during those final moments; Canadian tourist Ariel Ben-Barush was also at Netanya mall but still wants to make aliyah
NETANYA -"I was ten meters away from the entrance to the mall when we the heard the explosion. After that, it was completely quiet, silent, as if the whole world stood still. We saw body parts flying in our direction. After we recovered from the original shock, my youngest daughter started to cry."
This is what Arik Buchnik recalls of Tuesday evening's Netanya bombing. He arrived at the Hasharon Mall with his daughters - Meital, 23, and Mora, 21 - and accompanied them to Kfar Saba's Meir Hospital as shock victims.
Buchnik said that it was miracle he and his daughters survived.
"I was with Moran in the mall, and we went outside to meet Meital and have an afternoon of fun. I met a friend in the mall, and got delayed for a bit - and that is what saved us."
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Meital added that she saw the suicide bomber detonate himself next to four teens who had crossed the street.
'I want to move to Israel'
Ariel Ben-Harush, a Canadian tourist, arrived with his mother three weeks ago and also found himself in the hospital.
"I was in the mall entrance with my cousin," he said. "We heard an explosion and we ran to see what had happened, and I saw it all. There was a lot of blood. It's was horrible. One woman fainted, and we helped her get into an ambulance."
Ben-Harush said that despite the terrorist attack, he plans to live in Israel in another year and a half.
"I am a Jew and I am proud to be a Jew, and what those people are doing is just terrible, and it will never leave me," he said. "We just wanted to go to the mall and buy something."
'It reminded her of the other mall bombing'
Shosh Kabayov, 43, from Netanya, was at the mall in 2001, when another terrorist attack took place outside the store where she worked. Tuesday's bombing brought back the trauma of that earlier attack.
Her sister, Silvana Reuven, said, "I was with her 10 minutes before the bombing in front of the store, and went to the hospital to visit my mother. There, at the hospital, I heard the ambulances and heard that there had been a terrorist attack at the mall.
"I had a feeling my sister would be here. We looked for a clerk and asked her, and she said that she (Shosh Kabayov) was here. She was in terrible shock, they gave her two shots … She doesn't speak, just trembles."
Reuven said that her sister worked as a nurse because she wanted to treat terror victims, but the most recent attack has traumatized her.
"Last time, she was in the hospital for three days. I hope this time she will be released today," she said.
