Steve Bloomberg

In memory of Tehiya Bloomberg

Hours after disenbarking from the plane to Israel, I found myself sitting across from Steve Blumberg, in Café Roladin, Yehud. He was the first survivor of a Palestinian terror attack I was to meet, and I was a little nervous. His relaxed friendly manner soon instilled confidence however and I found I liked him immediately .

Over coffee and cake I learned Steve, a native of Hendon, London, had lived in Israel since 1982. When asked what had drawn him to the country his response was instant “I was influenced by the bible. Moses always wanted to come to Israel and could never make it in. How can we not take that chance?” Elaborating further he continued “I visited, I’ve got some family here, the main thing was when I finished school at 18, I came for a year. I was in a kibbutz for a while, I was in Yeshiva for a year. I stayed for a whole year with a youth organisation. That was great because that really made me feel part of Israel, I learned the language and I knew then I wanted to come and live here. I went back to England to study; I studied in Manchester for 3 years- I studied physics in Manchester University- By the way, I’m a Man City fan.” I understood pretty quickly that football is also very important to Steve Bloomberg.

Steve met his wife, Tehiya, an Israeli nurse from Netanya, after he moved to Israel. The couple had five children and moved out to live in the Samaria region, where he still lives today.  

I knew that Steve was in a wheelchair as the result of being shot by terrorists in August 2001. Tehiya and their unborn child had died in the shooting, whilst his older daughter, Tziporah had also been paralysed.

My friend, Tammy Weiss had lived in the same settlement as the Blumberg’s, Ginot Shomron at the time of the attack, and it was she who made our connection.  I asked Steve if he could tell me about that awful day.

“Yes” he began softly, relating the details in a quiet voice.

”I will tell you what happened… so on the day, on that morning, I remember going to work, it was in the middle of the Intifada- there was a lot of…you know,  I’m sort of thinking to myself ‘is it dangerous to go?’. We had a bus that takes us to work to Yehud. I would sit on the bus then come back home. That day Tehiya said to me that we needed to go and buy school books for the kids, it was August, so I said ‘after work I’ll come back home and then we’ll go out’. So, we went out that evening, nearby Tel Aviv, (Peta Tikvah) and we got all the stuff. On the way I had 3 kids in the back of the car; my oldest daughter who was about 16, my son who was 14 and my 7-year-old son. I’ve got two other children; one who was away on holiday at a camp – my 12-year-old was away, and my 10-year-old decided to stay at home, so I had 3 of the 5 kids with us. We picked up a neighbour on the way back.

‘Suddenly my daughter started shouting to me “Hey, they are firing on us!” and I heard this sort of boom noise, it didn’t register what was happening. My first reaction was I need to stop the car, get past wherever it was coming from and stop the car in case I get injured and lose control of the car. That was my first reaction. I managed to stop on the side of the road and then there was this silence.  I tried calling somebody and realised something isn’t functioning right, and my hand…. something was going wrong. Meanwhile somebody opened the door beside me, I used to have this big American van sort of thing, what’s it called? An SUV sort of thing, so somebody opened the door and helped me onto the road.  I’m sitting there on the road and before that I look at Tehiya and I understand that she’s not with us anymore. I realise that she’s been murdered. I knew straight away that there was nothing that could be done. I don’t know what’s happening with the kids in the back of the car and I’m sitting on the road there and ...”

I interrupted gently, asking Steve if he knew he had been hit at that point. He picked up the narrative, I could tell he was reliving the attack and could feel the power of his emotion.

‘Every second is like an eternity ...you know like after another 10 seconds “where’s the ambulance?” I’m waiting for this ambulance to come and it isn’t coming. All I’m thinking is that if Tehiya wasn’t with us I have to be strong; I have to look after the kids, I have to survive. Where’s this ambulance? Eventually the ambulance arrived, and they put me in the ambulance… I became unconscious at that point and woke up the next morning in hospital. I remember my Rabbi was standing next to me and I realised he probably wanted to tell me what had happened, so I said ‘I know, I know about Tehiya so we discussed funeral arrangements. Obviously, I wasn’t in a state where I could go to it, I was that seriously injured.”

Later Steve was to discover his oldest daughter who was just 16 at the time, had also received spinal injuries, and like her father, was paralysed below the waist.  They were being treated in different hospitals. Tzipi, now 32, lives independently in Tekoa south of Jerusalem. She excels at sports, and Steve proudly showed us a video clip of his daughter skiing on one blade during a championship in France the previous April.; a championship she went on to win.

Returning to the immediate aftermath of the attack Steve continued “I always remember, about 3 days afterwards the President of the State of Israel came to visit me in hospital, there was a TV team with him, and they asked for an interview. For some reason I said yes. I remember they were always asking me ‘Are you going to live in the same place? Are you going to stay?’ My first reaction was “Of course I am! Their whole purpose was to get us out of there so of course I’m going to stay there “. I’ve never regretted it. That was what I said, and I haven’t changed my mind. After that I was about 5 months in rehabilitation, and I had to come back to bring up a family. Of course, I discovered some lovely amazing people, we had some amazing neighbours, and friends...

He went on to explain the incredible support he received from the community, describing how one woman had even moved in with his children whilst he was in hospital, becoming like a mother to them. It was obvious to see how deeply this memory moved Steve to this day. Taking a moment to compose himself he added “…. people were so amazing. They were angels ....”

His children were obviously affected by the shootings, robbed of their mother by the murder there were many challenges to overcome. Steve later remarried, and stressed the importance of regaining a family atmosphere. He was gradually able to return to his work in electro optics in Yehud ‘developing lenses and that kind of thing’.  The issues raised by his disability however became a real problem. He wanted to remain an active part of society and found quickly that the one thing which could prevent that happening lay in difficulty gaining accessibility. Football was one example…

“So, I’ve become very active fighting for accessibility. I can give you a couple of stories if you want. When I came to live in Israel from England people would always ask me who I would support if England play Israel at football. Then if you remember about 10 years ago, in the Euros England were in the same group as Israel, Croatia and Russia. England played Israel and as soon as I saw the draw I thought ‘I’ve got to go to that match in Tel Aviv!’

After trying to purchase tickets repeatedly in the two months before the match, eventually Steve was informed there were no tickets for wheelchair users. He decided to go public and put up a fight, contacting government ministers and appearing on the Radio and Television News. The following day as a result of the pressure tickets for wheelchair users were made available. Steve remarked “Apparently, it had been like this for years, they weren’t selling tickets to people in wheelchairs. I can’t believe the effect just one person can make; I had a lot of help, but I mean…”

Steve spoke clearly about the serious ongoing issue of Palestinian terrorism

“If you look deeply into the Arab Jewish conflict- what the Arabs really want is for us not to be here. They don’t want peace. If you give them all Samaria, or all the West Bank, that’s not what they want. They don’t want us here. The situation before 1967- they hated us, and we didn’t have the West Bank then. Before 1948, before there was a State, they wanted to wipe us out.

You have to understand a bit deeper into the roots of the problem. In Gaza they send children up to the fence, they use hospitals to hide their weapons. I can tell you, if an Arab walks into Ginot Shomron he will be fine, nothing will happen to him, but if I walk into the local (Arab) village, I will probably be murdered. I know it wasn’t like this 30 years ago.  When I moved to a new house once within Ginot Shomron I went into the local (Arab) village to look for someone who had a tractor or wagon sort of thing to help me move – there were no problems. There would be great relations. It’s not a natural hate, it’s all a political hatred.”

Steve’s comments were sobering. As one who has suffered immensely as a direct result of terrorism, and continues to live in the same area, driving the same road he was attacked and his wife murdered, he is uniquely qualified to speak. Yet, despite all his incalculable losses, he remains positive, warm, humorous and kind. My husband Brian and I were deeply touched and inspired by the time we spent together, and left Café Roladin feeling we had just found a new friend.