Owner of twice-bombed J'lem kiosk vows to continue

Brother-in-law first alerted police to suspicious package in terrorist attack; “Nothing will overcome us, tomorrow morning we’ll return to clean up."

By MELANIE LIDMAN
Jerusalem bus bombing FOR GALLERY 521 1 (photo credit: Moshe Milner GPO)
Jerusalem bus bombing FOR GALLERY 521 1
(photo credit: Moshe Milner GPO)
On December 25, 1994, Shimshon Moshe’s kiosk was torn apart by a blast from a suicide bomber standing at a bus stop, across from Jerusalem International Convention Center.
The bomb exploded prematurely, wounding 13 and killing the suicide bomber.
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Moshe survived the attack and rebuilt his kiosk, which does a brisk business selling sandwiches, drinks, and snacks to travelers heading out of the city. Tipping his hat to fate, he ironically renamed his kiosk “Pitzutz Shel Kiosk” or “Blast of a Kiosk.”
Seventeen years later, Moshe’s kiosk was again the center of a bus bombing in Jerusalem.
“I asked my brother-in law to take over for an hour or so while I went home to rest,” Moshe, 58, told The Jerusalem Post as he was closing the kiosk and finding shrapnel behind the counter. Moshe said he hadn’t been feeling well and that his brother-inlaw, David Amuyal, 52, often helped him out by allowing him to rest in the afternoons.
Just after 3 p.m., Amuyal noticed a suspicious bag underneath a public pay phone.
“He was trying to get people to move away from the area and he called the police at 100, and as he was talking to the police, it exploded,” said Moshe.
Amuyal is heard in an eery police recording, played on television stations on Wednesday night, warning of the impending terrorist attack.
“I am speaking from Pitzutz Shel Kiosk, Binyenei Ha’uma,” he says. “There’s a suspicious bag here at the bus stop.”
He is then interrupted by the sound of an explosion, and the police officer is heard saying, “Hello? Hello?” Amuyal was severely wounded and was brought to Hadassah-University Hospital, Ein Kerem, where he underwent surgery on Wednesday evening. He had internal bleeding and deep cuts on his legs from the shrapnel.
Moshe said that he often acted as a de facto security guard at the busy bus stops.
“There aren’t any policemen there, so if people see a suspicious package, who do they turn to? Us at the kiosk,” he said.
“We have a routine. [We] get the people away, call the police. We’re acting like policemen, but what can you do?” The kiosk sustained light damage in Wednesday’s attack. Moshe vowed to return to work Thursday morning.
“Nothing will overcome us.
Tomorrow morning we’ll return to clean and set up and do what we need to and return to work,” he said.
“This is our livelihood, and we’re not going to do anything different.
I’m not going to change the name, and I’m going to keep working there, and we’ll be there for another 30 years.”