September 10, 2003 Dr David and Nava Applebaum

Islamic Murder, Mayhem, and Mutilation

Murder

In this tormented city (e.g. Jerusalem), responding to terror attacks has become a grim medical specialty, and Dr. David Applebaum was known as “the first man on the scene.”

Dr. Applebaum spent years dashing to bomb sites to treat the wounded, and he was an innovator in emergency medical services that are called into action all too often here.

Dr. Applebaum, 50, was present at the bombing of Café Hillel on Tuesday night – this time as a victim. He was killed with his daughter Nava, 20, as they ventured several blocks from home for a late night snack and a father-daughter talk on the eve of her wedding.

Instead of giving his daughter away today at a large celebration set for a Jerusalem kibbutz, Dr. Applebaum was buried alongside Nava in an even larger funeral at the stony, hilltop cemetery of Givat Shaul on the western edge of the city.

Hundreds had planned to spend the evening dancing with the Applebaums. Instead, thousands mourned, many with red eyes and weak knees, as they recalled his good works. “He was a great combination of spirituality and humanity,” said Aviva Cayam, who knew Dr. Applebaum since he was a 14–year-old growing up in Cleveland. “When people think of him, they use the Hebrew word ‘tzadik’. That’s a very special person who has both a human and a godly touch.”

Dr. Applebaum, a father of six who lived in a large family compound, “was not a cafe goer,” said Dr. Jonathan Halevy, the director general of Shaare Zedek hospital. “If not for the special occasion of the wedding, he would not have been there.”

Father and daughter visited Cafe Hillel, on a street lined with restaurants and trendy shops in a neighborhood known as the German Colony.

A Palestinian attacker with a bomb strapped to his back tried to enter a neighboring pizza parlor, but was pushed back by a security guard. He ran a few steps to the cafe and detonated his explosive as he burst past security at the door.

That blast and an earlier suicide bombing on Tuesday at a bus station outside an army base near Tel Aviv killed a total of 15 Israelis and wounded dozens.

The day of his death, Dr. Applebaum had returned from a New York conference dealing with terror attacks.

Timed to mark the second anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks, the conference was sponsored by the NYU Downtown Hospital and held at the investment bank Goldman Sachs, a short distance from where the twin towers once stood.

On Monday, Dr. Applebaum gave a step-by-step presentation on how major bombings are handled at Shaare Zedek, the hospital where he directed the emergency room.

Shortly afterward, he flew to Jerusalem, joined by relatives coming to Israel for the wedding, family friends said.

After about 100 suicide bombings in the past three years, the Israeli response has become a sadly well-ordered drill. Blasts in Jerusalem reverberate throughout the compact city, sending rescue workers into action before their phones ring.

Dr. Halevy said he needed eight minutes to reach the hospital, but Dr. Applebaum almost always beat him there.

Dr. Halevy was surprised Tuesday night when he arrived and his colleague was not present. When the doctor did not answer his cellphone, Dr. Halevy suspected the worst.

Dr. Applebaum had been affiliated with the Israeli rescue service, Magen David Adom, for 20 years, and longtime colleagues identified the body at the cafe.

August 2003, Dr. Applebaum greeted Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York City, who made a solidarity visit in the wake of a suicide bombing that killed 22 people including many children.

In an interview after that bombing, which killed and wounded many children, Dr. Applebaum said “one of our very important tasks is to unite the children with their parents.

“We know the separation in these incidents causes intense worry and fear,” he said.

Nava Applebaum was the third of Dr. Applebaum’s six children, who ranged from age 25 to 12. Like most Israeli women, she performed two years of national service after high school, working at a home treating children with cancer.

Source: A Healer of Terror Victims Becomes One