‘I feared the worst’
A JEWISH father in England said he feared that his 14-year-old daughter and her three friends could have been killed by the suicide bomber who murdered at least 22 people in the Manchester Arena on Monday.
A JEWISH father in England said he feared that his 14-year-old daughter and her three friends could have been killed by the suicide bomber who murdered at least 22 people in the Manchester Arena on Monday.
“I feared the worst,” Joel Lever told The UK Jewish News while his voice was still trembling and full of emotion. “Not just for my beautiful daughter but also for the three other girls she had taken along to see Ariana Grande in concert.”
“I was waiting at the bottom of the stairs having texted my daughter just before 10.30pm to tell her to leave from the exit above.
“All of a sudden this bang came from the top of the stairs from the very same area I knew they would walk out from. It literally made me shudder and I felt it go right through my chest. The doors of the arena flung open and there was just this stampede of people – like a cascade.
“I still hadn’t heard from my daughter – and my thoughts then turned to whether or not there would be a second bomb. My heart just sank. I just couldn’t get hold of my daughter. Parents were screaming, kids were screaming, everyone was falling over each other, sirens were wailing, police officers were shouting ‘get back!’. It was horrendous and surreal. A nightmare.”
When Lever received a call from his daughter, he said he felt like he’d “just won the lottery”.
Students from the King David High School in Manchester, including Lever’s daughter, did not attend school on Tuesday.
Twenty-two people were killed and 59 injured when Manchester-born Salman Abedi detonated an explosive device at the end of an Ariana Grande concert on Monday night.
Australian-born Mark Regev, Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, said that the Israeli flag at the embassy was lowered to half- mast in solidarity with the people of Manchester.
“Israel stands with you at this difficult time,” Regev said.
The Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said that Monday was a day of “immense grief and pain”.
“This now looks to be the worst terror attack we have suffered in nearly 12 years and first and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims,” Rabbi Mirvis said.
“This attack, intended to inflict maximum carnage on innocent young lives, is the purest evil. But our reaction defines who we are as a country. When we are attacked by hate, we respond with love. Nothing and no one can divide us.”
JOSHUA LEVI
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