The man stabbed in Jerusalem Sunday is Avraham Goldschmidt, married with four children, from Betar Illit. He told the media from his hospital bed that he was on his way back from a Torah lesson, when he was stabbed by an 18-year-old terrorist from Bir Zeit.
"He came from behind me. I felt a blow to the stomach, and I saw a 17-year-old Arab holding a knife. I yelled to everyone, 'stabbing!' – so everyone would get away. He came up to stab me again. I hit him with my tefillin bag, and he went backward – but then he came at me again. I ran to the pedestrian crossing and shouted that it was a stabbing and asked whoever has weapons to neutralize him. "
"Barkat and his personal guard were there, thank God, and here I give them thanks. They showed remarkable resourcefulness, seeing as the terrorist still held a knife in hand." Only after the terrorist no longer posed a danger did Goldschmidt realize that he was full of blood.
"I had just finished studying Torah and came from prayer, and this is probably what helped,” Goldschmidt said. “God watches over us, and always will."
Dr. Ofer Merin, Trauma Room Manager and Deputy Director of the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, said that Goldschmidt, "has passed initial tests and we are at the testing stage, after which we will be able to assess the extent of damge. He is alert after having suffered a single puncture wound in the stomach. He remembers standing at a traffic light and being stabbed in the stomach."