Posted on 05/09/2003 5:07:32 PM PDT by yonif
Avi Taviv, security guard at Mike's Place at the time of last week's suicide bombing, spoke to journalists from his hospital bed for the first time yesterday. "I'm feeling a lot better.
I remember the blues session, then getting up on a table to sing 'Happy Birthday," he told Israel Television Channel One. "Beyond that nothing." Taviv's bond with the pub, where three people died and about 60 were injured, remains strong.
"Mike's Place is everything for me. I was in the army with the barman, and the owners are close friends. The regulars are my family. The fact that Mike's Place has already reopened fills me with happiness. I care about the place, and want to go back to work there."
Taviv, a psychology student at Tel Aviv University, remains in Intensive Care at the Rabin Medical Center Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva, but is off the critical list. Visitors report that he is in good spirits and doctors have brought forward his expected release to next week. Taviv, who was under sedation for several days, has yet to be informed that three of his friends were killed in the attack.
"The doctors don't believe how quickly he's recovering. He just wants to get out of bed and back to life, but he was severely burned, and will be incapacitated for a long time, " Mike's Place regular Tina Maia told the Jerusalem Post. . "He's an amazing guy. He was a hero long before this he did the sort of things you can't talk about during his army service. He saved many lives in Lebanon," said London-born Maia, 27, who was hospitalized for burns in her left leg following the attack.
Mike's Place reopened Tuesday evening with a memorial ceremony for the three victims. "It was a beautiful, moving ceremony,[Proprietor] Assaf [Ganzman] sang [slain French-born waitress] Dominique [Hess]'s favorite song, and they showed videos about the dead," said Maia.
The clips were taken from the documentary about the pub by renowned American filmmaker Jack Baxter, 50, who was also injured in the attack. The bar remained open all night, with an acoustic blues show.
Patrons of Mike's Place have set up a trust fund to help victims of the attack and finance a memorial outside the Tel Aviv beachside bar. In particular, they want to help Taviv, who received multiple shrapnel injuries and severe burns in the chest, neck and stomach when physically stopping the terrorist from entering the pub thereby averting a far greater tragedy.
Donations for the Mike's Place Terror Fund may be placed at Bank Leumi, branch 813 (Basel Street), account number 17294/73 (for shekel transfers) or 17294/93 (for foreign currency). Cheques (in any currency) may be mailed to: Gavin M. Gross, Rehov Hashla 6/11, Tel Aviv 62283. For further details, see www.mikesplacebars.com http://www.mikesplacebars.com
That is pure truth.
It would be very good if ALL terrorists and terrorist symps were exterminated.
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