Itongadol.- Noa Litman, the widow of Rabbi Yaakov Litman and mother of Netanel Litman, both of whom were murdered in a shooting attack south of Hevron Friday, described acts of heroism performed by her husband and children as a merciless Arab terrorist opened fired on them as they headed to a celebration of the upcoming wedding of their daughter.
Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Noa Litman said that the family left their home in Kiryat Arba, on the way to their prospective in-laws in Meitar, a suburb of Beersheva. “At a curve in the road they started shooting at us,” she said. “Our car was stuck on the side of the road, but the terrorist came out to the middle of the road and continued firing at us from the front. The first bullet struck my husband Yaakov. Netanel was driving, and Dvir, my other son, screamed \’save Aba! save Aba!\’ But Yaakov did not answer back – that\’s when I realized he was no longer alive.”
Netanel, who was still alive, managed to get a call into rescue services, said Noa Litman. “It was too noisy on the phone so he opened the car door to get a more quiet spot, and that\’s when the terrorist shot him. He fell down. Dvir still had a phone and he called for help, clearly telling authorities where we were and that two people had been killed.”
At that moment, she said, a Red Crescent ambulance passed by, and Noa Litman flagged it down. “But they refused to do anything. All they did was tell use to call Magen David Adom and they drove on. Dvir told them that there were injured people, but they told him in English to call the emergency phone number 101 and they left.”
As a member of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the Red Crescent is required to help all people who need assistance regardless of their affiliation. Failure to do so, he said, was a violation of their mission, and Netanyahu said that Israel would demand “answers” about how and why the ambulance left the scene without helping. Speaking on Army Radio earlier, a Red Crescent official said that the ambulance had indeed stopped to help, and had remained with the family until an Israeli ambulance arrived.
Noa Litman said that she, Dvir, and his sisters were saved because they immediately ducked as the shooting started, following the instructions Netanel gave them. “After the shooting I picked up my head and I saw Dvir full of blood, and he told me he had been hit in the leg. I asked the girls if they were okay and they told me, and then the ambulances arrived.
“They took us to a hospital in Beersheva in two ambulances where they checked us out, and then we all went into the same room where we broke the news to my daughters and the rest of the family,” she added.