SA oleh dodges bullet on his birthday

South African oleh Jonathan Zausmer wasn’t planning on doing much to celebrate his birthday on Sunday, 7 June, but a higher power showed him that he still has a lot of living to do. 

He miraculously avoided a terrorist attack on the day he turned 72. 

That morning, he and his wife, Janice, decided to head to nearby Ra’anana for coffee, stopping to fill up with petrol on the way out of their hometown, Kochav Yair. They then continued on their way. Minutes later, they heard that a terrorist had opened fire at the very petrol station they had just left, and realised that where they had been standing would have put them in the exact line of fire. 

“We dodged a bullet, literally,” Zausmer told the SA Jewish Report in his strong South African accent. “Looking at where the terrorist stood, we would have been exposed to his shots. When we heard about it, we couldn’t believe it. We were just very lucky. In the 40 years since Kochav Yair was established, nothing like this has happened before.” 

The drive-by shooting attack began at Kochav Yair and continued to Tzur Yitzhak, Tzur Natan, and Sal’it. The terrorist killed Master Sergeant Haim Kalomiti, 55, a reservist soldier from Tzur Natan who was a member of the community’s civil defence squad. Five other people were wounded before security forces shot the gunman. Police later arrested a second man accused of involvement in the attack. 

South African oleh Dave Kaplan spoke to the SA Jewish Report from his home in nearby Kfar Saba while the attack was still unfolding. He said his daughter was “locked down” in her home in Tzur Yitzhak while security forces worked to confront the terrorist. 

“I was suddenly watching Israel news on Channel 12 not as a typical news watcher but as a horrified parent and grandparent, knowing our daughter Dana and our three precious grandkids were under lockdown and a terrorist, who had already injured five and killed one, was roaming the streets all too familiar to me,” he says. 

“We saw the streets that we walk were suddenly the scene of a manhunt for a killer with a submachinegun looking to kill Jews ‒ any Jews. It could be our loved ones.” 

He and his wife, Hilary, “wanted to dash out there, but that was impossible with the lockdown, so we kept in touch over the phone until it was safe”. 

His daughter, Dana Dvir, says it was excruciating being locked down at home without her children, knowing they were locked down at their school and kindergarten. “They were in the mamad [safe room] for two hours,” she says. 

The situation was made even more difficult because her husband is up north in the army. Eventually, she was allowed to collect her children. “I ran out to fetch them all … my daughter was supposed to finish school at 12:45, but I could only fetch her at 14:20. I never imagined something like this happening here.” 

That evening, Zausmer visited his friend Jonathan Schwartz, another South African oleh who has lived in nearby Tzur Yigal for about 30 years. “The attack definitely was too close to home and too close for comfort,” says Schwartz. 

He says that the commercial area in which the terrorist started his attack “is generally a microcosm of cooperation between residents of Kochav Yair, Tzur Yigal, and residents of the neighbouring Arab towns of Tira, Tayibe, and Kalanswa. Many of the staff in the local shops are Israeli Arabs, and customers are a happy mix of Jews and Arabs. Despite this incident, I will continue to shop in Tira.” 

Kochav Yair is a quiet suburban town close to the Green Line and in between these three Arab towns, known as “the triangle”. “We often go into Tira to do shopping,” says Zausmer. “My electrician and plumber come from there. Most people just want to get on with their lives – no one wants a civil war in Israel.” 

The attacker came from Tayibe, north of Kochav Yair. Hamas praised the attack, but the mayor of Tayibe immediately condemned it. 

Mayor Yahya Haj Yahya, along with the city council, emphasised that he firmly rejects all violence, and reaffirmed the city’s commitment to peace and coexistence. He also stressed that the actions of the individual attacker do not represent the broader Arab sector. 

Zausmer says that all Kochav Yair residents stop at that petrol station regularly, which is why the attack has hit so close to home. Furthermore, there are many South African olim in the area, as aliya organisation Telfed played a key role in establishing the town. South Africans were drawn to it because it offered houses as opposed to apartments, but is still in a central area, 10 minutes from the city of Kfar Saba. 

Because Kochav Yair is close to the Green Line, the possibility has always existed that a terrorist would attack from the West Bank. The fact that the attacker came from within Israel surprised and saddened Zausmer and other olim, but they believe it was a “once-off” event, and say they still feel extremely safe. 

Dave Bloom, who is originally from Harare, also lives in Kochav Yair and says the South African presence in the town can be epitomised by the fact that “three of my wife’s classmates from primary school in Cape Town now live in Kochav Yair”. 

Bloom’s wife, Gail, was also minutes away from the petrol station when the attack happened, and she quickly turned around and headed home. “I pull up my car there every few days,” says Bloom, as the petrol station has shops, a pharmacy, and restaurants around it. 

He agrees that the area exemplifies Israel’s quiet diversity. “My cardiologist and eye doctor are from Tira, and I teach English voluntarily there once a week,” he says. “What is most upsetting is that such an incident can put these good relations at risk. It’s only a small minority that wants to undermine the vast majority who want to live peaceful lives. The problem is that it’s very hard to prevent a ‘lone wolf’ attack.” 

Telfed Chief Executive Dorron Kline says there are approximately 157 South Africans adults in Kochav Yair today, and 19 in nearby Tzur Yitzhak and Tzur Natan. 

Kline says that while no South African olim were wounded or killed in the attack, “one of the victims shot in the shoulder and moderately wounded is the brother-in-law of one of our staff members. He is Israeli.” Footage of this man being shot at the petrol station has circulated online. 

The day after the attack, Kaplan spent the morning with his grandchildren, who had been locked down at school during the attack. “We played games as if nothing had happened. “Such is ‘normal’ life in Israel.”