National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir spoke on Tuesday evening with the Israeli who neutralized the terrorist who carried out the combined stabbing-ramming attack in Tel Aviv, and praised him for his actions.
"I want to strengthen you, you saved people's lives, you are a hero. One of the most important things is that a citizen carries a weapon and protects people. I appreciate you and I appreciate every citizen who saves people's lives," Ben Gvir told the Israeli citizen.
The Israeli described the attack from his perspective and said, "Honorable minister, there was a miracle here, if I hadn't been here the situation would have been completely different. The terrorist got out of the car after hitting the bus stop and ran after people here. I moved aside of to talk on the phone, and if I hadn't moved aside, he would have killed me. After I left the place, he rammed into the bus shelter."
"At first I thought it was a fight between drivers. He took out a huge knife and stabbed a man who was near the door of his car. Then I saw that he starting running towards others – and I realized it was a terrorist."
"I took out the gun, he saw me, started running after me. I prayed to God that the gun would not jam, because if the bullet hadn’t come out, I would have been killed too," the citizen recalled.
Ben Gvir continued to praise him and said, "God saved you. I saw in the video that you didn’t hesitate and that every time he tried to endanger your life, you fired a bullet at him. I'm going to give you public support, so there won't be any misunderstanding here, I am going to tell everyone so there is no confusion. You are being strengthened."
At the conclusion of the conversation, the citizen thanked Ben Gvir for the support and said, "Thank you very much. You are a special person. I follow you and continue to do your work faithfully. Thank you."