Ido Lazan was reunited with Django after a Jan. 2016 shooting attack in Tel Aviv. Photo: Twitter.

A former IDF combat veteran who survived a shooting attack in Tel Aviv in January 2016 had words of encouragement for the survivors of Wednesday morning’s shooting incident in Virginia, in which five people — including Republican House majority whip Steve Scalise – were wounded.

“The main thing is to be alive — the road going forward can only get better, so hang in there,” Ido Lazan told The Algemeiner.

Lazan had been drinking at the Simta Bar on Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Street on January 1, 2016 when the establishment was attacked by an ISIS-inspired Israeli Arab terrorist who opened fire with a submachine gun in all directions. Two people were killed and seven wounded in the assault, among them Lazan.

In the days that followed the attack, Lazan became something of a local celebrity after he was reunited with his dog Django, who fled the scene in a panic.

Lazan, who is currently visiting the US with representatives of NATAL — an Israeli non-profit organization that has assisted victims of terrorism with stress and trauma for over twenty years — said that the unexpected nature of the attack was embedded in his memory.

“The scariest thing is that it comes out of nowhere,” he said. “It was in a instant. I was just sitting with a beer and 10 seconds later, I’m hit.”

“It’s a unique feeling that you wouldn’t experience in any other situation,” Lazan said. “It’s overwhelming.”

Lazan noted that his time as a combat soldier may have made him more “resilient.”

“I can’t say exactly how it worked, but in Israel, we grow up quickly, we’re carrying rifles at the age of 18,” he commented.