'Our baby united the Jewish people’ say parents from Ofra terror attack
An emotional press conference held in Shaarei Tzedek Hospital by Amichai and his wife Shira who were both shot and wounded on last Sunday.
By JEREMY SHARONUpdated: DECEMBER 16, 2018 19:43Shira (L) and Amichai (R) Ish-ran speak at a press conference, December 16th, 2018(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH 90)
Amichai Ishran, the father of the the infant who died following the terror attack outside Ofra, said his son managed to unite the Jewish people during the three days he was alive.During an emotional press conference held in Shaarei Tzedek Hospital by Amichai and his wife Shira who were both shot and wounded last Sunday, the two bereaved parents gave heartfelt thanks to the outpouring of love they said they have felt following the terror attack which they said had given them physical and psychological strength.“Our baby, Amiad Israel, managed to unite the Jewish people in the three days he was alive, something most people never manage to do during their entire lives,” said Amichai.“Everyone wanted to come and help us and wish us well, secular, religious, haredi, from across the spectrum of Israeli society,” he continued.Amichai said that the Jewish people should take the importance of unity to heart from the death of their baby, and remain united despite differences of opinion.“We are brothers first and foremost, that they will not succeed in taking from us. They can stab us, shoot us, run us over, throw stones at us, murder us, murder our children, but they cannot break us, we wont let them,” he said emotionally.Shira gave thanks to the hospital staff and to the paramedics who saved her life in the critical moments following the attack and on the journey to the hospital in Jerusalem.“The Jewish people are helping me physically and spiritually, thank you from the depths of my heart,” she said.She suffered massive blood loss in the attack and commented that “Most of my blood is not my blood,” in reference to the blood transfusions she was given,” giving her thanks to those who donate blood.“I feel that the Jewish people are supporting me spiritually and strengthening us with all their prayers and well-wishes and the Jewish people are strengthening me physically,” said Shira.
Following the comments of Amichai and Shira, their parents also addressed the media and called on the government and specifically on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take “concrete action” to protect the lives of Israelis in the settlements and to increase settlement construction in the West Bank in response to the attack.“These attacks cannot be allowed to become part of daily life, these vile people need to get a message, 1,000 times what they give us,” said Chayim Silberstein, father of Shira.“We need more settlements, more neighborhoods, more houses, this should go without saying. We want a settlement in the name of Amiad Yisrael whose blood cries out from the grave, and more settlements across Judea and Samaria. We want not just words from PM but also concrete actions.”Said the father of Amichai, Rabbi Refael Ish-Ran “We need to change the record. We are in a war with terror and need to act as one acts in war…. We are not requesting much, simply to be able to live and not to be murdered. We are requesting that newly weds not be shot and their baby murdered, and soldiers shot and stabbed and bludgeoned with rocks.”In the attack last Sunday, Shira was severely wounded in the abdomen in the shooting attack and suffered massive blood loss, but following emergency surgery is now expected to make a full recovery.Dr. Alon Schwarz told the media that Shira’s medical team expect her to be able to be able to bear children in the future.She is however scheduled for further surgery on Monday.Amichai and Shira’s baby, Amiad Yisrael, suffered severe injuries in utero due to the attack. He was delivered by emergency caesarian section after the attack, but his injuried proved too severe for the medical team and he died aged just three days old last Wednesday.Amichai sustained three bullets to his leg but will make a full recovery.
