Danny Tourjeman

On the 9th of March in 2002, I was injured in a terror attack here in Jerusalem. A suicide bomber entered the coffee shop where I was.

When you’re in the hospital for a very long time, a person can either fall down or get up. Falling down means you can enter into severe depression, or, you have the choice to continue with your life. Things happen for a reason to an individual. It’s a kind of a test, and I experienced what I experienced as my test. A strengthening of my own faith; perhaps it was that I needed to change directions in my life. I grew up a lot, not only in age but just how my own persona was designed.

I am most grateful that I remained alive. I’m thankful for the second chance I had to live my life again. What I would say [to the attacker] is that these kinds of things don’t gain anything—if you want to gain something, the best way to do it is to talk face-to-face. Neighbors have to sit and talk to work things out. My message is that it doesn’t matter who you are, if you’re an Arab or a Jew or a Christian, you must respect the other—the other who is different from you. By respecting the one who is different, we will learn how to share life together. That’s the message I want to send out.