Meital Mizrahi, 28, was critically wounded when a Palestinian gunman opened fire at revelers at a Tel Aviv busy pub in April, and after a long rehabilitation, she sat down with Ynet to recount the tense moments and the long road to recovery.
The attack took place at the Ilka Bar on Tel Aviv’s bustling Dizengoff Street, when Ra'ad Hazem, a Palestinian from the West Bank city of Jenin shot up the place, killing 3 Israeli men and wounding 13 others, including Mizrahi. He was ultimately killed by Israeli security forces after an hours-long manhunt.
Mizrahi, who arrived at the pub with her husband, took a bullet to the neck, narrowly missing her main artery and living her hanging between life and death.
“I still think about whether it was fate or divine providence that saved me when the three men who sat next to me were killed,” she said. “The ordeal I went through was shocking and painful, but it also did some good. It brought me and my family closer together and made me chase my dreams and prove that I’m stronger than I ever thought possible.”
Mizrahi was rushed to the hospital, suffering multiple upper-body injuries. “The doctors fought to save me,” she said. “I wanted to go out for a drink and found myself in a hospital room, suffering painful injuries, including fractures in my torso, a punctured lung and one hand that wasn’t moving.”
Despite the hardships, Mizrahi refused to give up. “On one of my first nights in the hospital, my husband and I talked about what happened in the attack. I promised him I’m not going to give up and keep fighting.”
“When I arrived for rehabilitation in the hospital, I had to have self-discipline and chose to believe that everything happened for a reason, and I received a second chance at life,” she said. “I realized that lamenting my fate won’t get me anywhere and that I had a chance to rehabilitate myself, so I did.”
Mizrahi was discharged from the hospital in August and said that she continues to face her physical and mental scars alongside managing her anxiety in her everyday life. “I established an architecture and interior design firm. I realized that if I can face what I’ve been through, I can take on everything. So I decided to go and pursue my dream,” she said.
Two of the three victims of the shooting were Tomer Morad and Eitam Magini — two childhood friends who went to the same high school. The third victim was Barak Lufan, a 35-year-old father of three.
The gunman, 28-year-old Ra’ad Hazem, opened fire at customers at the popular Dizengoff Street bar around 9pm.
He fled through side alleys, prompting hundreds of police officers, IDF soldiers and special forces to go door to door in an effort to capture him.
Shin Bet agents and officers of the police's anti-terror special forces unit Yamam located Hazem near a mosque in the Jaffa quarter of the city early in the following morning and killed him in a shootout.