‘I had this immense responsibility to help’
An Australian woman currently living in Israel has spoken of her harrowing ordeal when she was caught up in the terrorist attack in Tel Aviv last week that left four people dead.
AN Australian woman currently living in Israel has spoken of her harrowing ordeal when she was caught up in the terrorist attack in Tel Aviv last week that left four people dead.
Megan Bernitz, 22, went to join friends at the Max Brenner cafe inside the popular Sarona Market when “all of a sudden I just heard shooting. It was horrible.
“I looked at him and saw his massive automatic rifle and it was awful. We ran for our lives,” she told The AJN following the attack.
Bernitz, a first responder at Magen David Adom (MDA), was scheduled for a shift the night of the attack.
“I put my uniform on and said, ‘I have to go, I need to go help,’” she said.
“My heart was beating very fast, but I felt like when I put the uniform straight on I had this immense responsibility to help.
“There was no going back. I had to do something.”
The former Masada College student ran straight back to the scene and said, “What can I do to help?”
Bernitz picked up three injured people. “It was just me with them. I helped them all the way to the hospital and in the hospital.”
She also watched a man be resuscitated, checking his breathing and wiping his blood off.
Bernitz, who has lived in Israel for just over a year, said she had always heard about terrorist attacks on the news, but was fortunate enough not to be around one. “They were very near and I always missed them, and I always said Hashem was looking after me,” she said. “And then this happened.”
Asked what was going through her mind at the time, Bernitz replied, “I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die. Run for your life. Just run.”
She added, “When I heard the shots going all I could think of was ‘s**t they got me, they got me, and now I’m never going to go home to my family. He’s going to get me.’
“I had to run as fast as I could and I did. I panicked and screamed not knowing where I was.”
Speaking about her involvement in MDA, Bernitz said, “I feel very proud; I feel like I’m doing the right thing.
“My father’s a doctor. I feel like I’m making my father and family happy.”
EVAN ZLATKIS
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