Terror survivor David Rubin was not surprised by the bombing attacks that targeted two Jerusalem bus stops on Wednesday. On the contrary, he described them as “inevitable.”
“There have been so many shooting attacks that have gone unnoticed and under the media’s radar,” Rubin said. “A bus bombing is horrific but there is barely a reaction outside of Israel. It’s just considered par for the course.”
Over twenty years ago, Rubin and his son were also victims of a terror attack. Since then, he has made supporting other survivors one of his life missions.
At the end of 2001, Rubin, former mayor of Shiloh, was driving home from Jerusalem with his three-year-old when the car was ambushed by three Fatah terrorists and he was shot in the leg by a gunman with an AK-47 assault rifle. The boy was hit in the head causing a skull fracture and internal bleeding in the cerebellum. The bullet missed his brain stem by one millimeter and he survived.
“Thank God, my son is physically okay now,” Rubin said. “But he is still dealing with the experience emotionally to this day.”
He and his son were transformed by the experience and therefore wanted to build something positive after the event. In 2004, Rubin established the Shiloh Israel Children’s Fund in order to help children recover from trauma. The organization supports therapeutic, educational, and recreational programs.
“We saw so many people coping with the after effects,” he added. “But children in Judea and Samaria have suffered disproportionately from terrorism.”
