Shai Ohana (24), one of dozens injured in the stabbing attack on bus line 40 in Tel Aviv, has yet to be recognized as a victim of hostilities.
Ohana was on his way to work when a terrorist entered the bus driving on Hamasger Street and began attacking both the driver and passengers. Injured in the stabbing attack, he was brought to Ichilov Hospital where he underwent an operation on his hand.
Following the January attack, Ohana was forced to move back in with his parents in Arad, as his physical and mental condition disabled him from staying in his apartment in Tel Aviv and continuing to work.
However, not even all those hardships could prepare Ohana for the letter he received recently from the National Insurance Institute (NII; Hebrew - Bituach Leumi).
The letter, whose contents were published Sunday morning in Yediot Aharonot, appears to be a standard insurance claim regarding Ohana's treatment in the aftermath of the attack.
However, the letter also poses the bizarre questions: "Who is the terrorist? Do you know him personally? Why did he stab you?"
"When I opened the letter, my first instinct was that it was a joke," Ohana told Yediot. "It's an insult to my intelligence. I do not understand what the expectation was of the person who wrote me this letter."
"What did they expect me to write back? Now that you remind me, I was with the terrorist on the Decorations Committee of the Bible Party in eighth grade?"
"The question that hurt me the most," Ohana continued, "was 'why did he stab you?' How can the country ask me to sit down after the trauma I experienced and answer such a question seriously."
The National Insurance Institute, meanwhile, apologized for the letter, telling Yediot, "no such letter should ever have been sent."