A TERRORIST murdered four people and injured at least 40 after mowing down pedestrians and then stabbing a police officer.
That was Wednesday in London, but in Israel it can be any day of the week.
How could a 52-year-old overweight lone individual, armed with just a kitchen knife break through the seats of England’s democracy?
That is the question.
The attack in London demonstrates one clear afterthought: You’re not safe anywhere if you’re not safe in London.
Unlike Israel, when you attack London, you are in fact attacking the whole world.
Whether you’re American tourists on holiday celebrating 25 years of marriage, you are a target; or a state police officer on duty, you are a target; a mother of two with Spanish origins, you are a target.
Following the reports flooding in that a police officer was stabbed at the Parliament seemed concerning to me, it was incomparable to what I saw as a reporter covering daily bus bombings and funerals in Israel during the second Intifada.
One encounter remains fresh in my mind, and I will never forget that day: May 18, 2003. I was embedded with first responders of Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency response team during a tireless nightshift. The call came in at 5.30am; a Palestinian terrorist wearing an explosive belt detonated himself on a bus in the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem. Seven Israelis were killed, twenty more wounded.
"Get there - you have two minutes!” declared the ambulance dispatcher. I was enroute to see what so many Israelis had endured over 32 months of Palestinian terror.
We flew past green lights at 100 mph and methodically prepared for what was going to be scene of utter chaos - bewilderingly we put on two sets of gloves and set our sights for what lay ahead.
The one thing that will be etched on my mind forever, whether I like it or not is the expression on the dead: sitting upright with their legs crossed still in their seats, as if the bus journey was continuing.
I learned in that one day more about Israelis and their bravery and resilience than I cared to. A whole nation suffering post traumatic stress syndrome whilst maintaining their will to fight and press on, despite the almost daily horrors.
Yesterday I couldn’t help but feel jaded by the panicked BBC News broadcasts echoing everywhere; women rushing to nursery to pick up their babies, some local shops sending staff home in a panic, people marking themselves as “safe” on Facebook.
I wondered why I was so shocked that friends and colleagues here in London were so scared into submission to stay at home and not go out.
One friend said, “I wish I could meet you tonight, but I am just too scared to leave the house. The world feels like it’s falling down.”
Falling down, really? Is it?
How would England be able to face daily multiple terror attacks like Israel.
I remember after that bus bombing I witnessed…within 90 minutes the entire scene was cleaned up, you would have never known anything had happened. Life went on as usual. That class that those perished students were on their way to carried on, only with a few empty seats.
I am sympathetic for the family and friends of the four victims and 40 injured, but one terror attack in ten years is something to definitely be grateful for and a testament to British intelligence and security.
But, now Deadly car rammings and indiscriminate knifings are a method to strike fear into the hearts of an entire population, back at home in Israel, and now on my new home turf, England.
As London’s elected Muslim Mayor Sadiq Khan said yesterday, “We must all stand together in the face of those who seek to harm us and destroy our way of life...Londoners will never be cowed by terrorism.”
If we know that there are people out there that clearly want to destroy our way of life, we need to be more alert and aggressive and keep fighting harder. If Londoners REALLY won’t be cowed by terrorism, let’s take a lesson from the Israelis and stop, take a breathe, and keep calm and carry on.