13-Year-Old Israeli Critically Wounded in Palestinian Stabbing Attack Celebrates Bar Mitzvah
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by Algemeiner Staff
The Western Wall, where the bar mitzvah of an Israeli wounded in a terrorist attack two months ago took place on Thursday. Photo: Wayne McLean/Wikipedia.
A bar mitzvah ceremony was held at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Thursday for a victim of a stabbing attack in the Israeli capital two months ago.
Dozens of relatives, friends and members of the press came out for Naor Shalev Ben Ezra’s bar mitzvah, Israel Radio reported. Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Meir Turgeman was also spotted in attendance.
The 13-year-old boy, who — along with a 25-year-old Israeli man — was stabbed by two Arab boys, 13 and 15, on October 12 in the Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood — barely survived his wounds.
“I have prepared for this moment for a long time,” Naor told reporters on Thursday, according to religious Israeli news site Hamodia. “I didn’t think I was going to have a bar mitzvah after I was stabbed, but, baruch hashem [thank God], I feel like I am 90-95 percent better than I was before.”
“Naor is the son of all of Israel. This celebration proves that the nation of Israel is great and strong and nobody will succeed in breaking us,” Naor’s father, Shai, declared during the ceremony, according to nrg.
His mother recalled the harrowing scene of Naor’s attack. “The most difficult moment for me was when I got to the attack site and Naor wasn’t answering me,” said Ruthie. “But I knew he’d show all of Israel what bravery and strength are. That’s my boy, bringing everybody together. A special boy.”
The Pisgat Ze’ev attack in which Naor was stabbed ended in a political row between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, after PA President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of executing one of the attackers who was actually still alive and being treated in an Israeli hospital. Israel later released photographs of the 13-year-old stabber in a hospital bed.
On Thursday, the Israeli military said security forces shot and killed a Palestinian man who was charging at soldiers with a knife. The IDF also conducted several night raids across the West Bank arresting 17, many suspected of terrorism and some with links to Hamas, according to Israel Radio.
