Adam Ezekiel, a Canadian-Israeli civilian, was on a tour in the West Bank on July 2 at a lookout point over Nablus when he heard a bang, and felt an intense pain coursing through the right side of his body.
“I didn’t know if I was having a heart attack or a stroke,” Ezekiel told The Jerusalem Post.
He then realized he was shot but there wasn’t much blood visible through his dark-blue shirt, which led to confusion and doubt by those around him. An IDF medic helped remove his shirt and verified the gunshot wound, saying the bullet was still inside him in the upper back near his right armpit.
Officials said they located the shooter and exchanged gunfire, killing the assailant and several other gunmen. The IDF is unsure if the gunmen were affiliated with any recognized terrorist group, and did not give an exact number of those killed.
After being rushed to a hospital, Ezekiel received unexpected news from his doctors.
“The head of trauma said, ‘We’ve decided we should keep the bullet in,’” Ezekiel said. “I told him ‘Look, I’m not really in the mood for jokes. If you could just tell me when we’re taking it out I’d appreciate it.’”
However, the doctors said taking the bullet out would pose an unnecessary risk of damaging his nerves and muscle. They also told Ezekiel, who is a fitness trainer, that his muscle mass helped stop the bullet from preventing further damage.
“The bullet is about a millimeter away from my lungs, and had I not built the muscle, it would have penetrated my lungs,” Ezekiel said.
In lieu of surgery, the shooting victim received pain medication, antibiotics, bandages, and a sling.
Security concerns
The tour group traveled in an armored bus and was accompanied by IDF soldiers in a military vehicle. Despite these efforts, Ezekiel felt unsafe leading up to the shooting.
“I was looking around at all these Arab villages thinking, we are walking targets,” Ezekiel said. “All an Arab has to do is have a coffee, smoke a cigarette, open his window, pull out a sniper rifle and shoot one of us, and then continue smoking his cigarette, having a coffee. He could be wearing his pajamas.”
Ezekiel, who became religious in 2008 before making aliya in 2009, said he considers it a berakaha (blessing) that he is alive today.
“I know I’m here for a bigger purpose,” he said. “I think it’s super important that we grow and learn from all of this war and all of these crises. We have to be united.”
Two weeks after the incident, three Israelis were wounded in a terror attack in Beit Lid, just 10 miles from where Ezekiel was shot.
In this incident, gunmen fired at the vehicle, hitting one of the three in the arm. The other two were wounded by shrapnel.
Joanie Margulies and Yael Halfon contributed to this report.