Brother Recalls Lost Hero One Year Later

Stand for Israel  |  September 19, 2019

A year ago, Israel lost a true hero, Ari Fuld, in a terror attack. And a year ago, The Fellowship’s Yonit Rothchild wrote this touching remembrance of this “Lion of Zion,” murdered by a terrorist even as he saved other lives from being lost. And now, a year later, Ari’s brother Hillel remembers his sibling and hero:

One year ago, everything changed forever.

I’ve never told this story, at least not in a public manner. Honestly, not sure I’ll make it through this post, but if you are reading this, I decided to hit “Publish”.

It was a Sunday morning like any Sunday morning. I was at Hometalk doing my thing. I had a few tabs open on my browser, like I always do. One of them was Israeli news.

I opened that tab just to check what’s happening in the country and there it was. “Another day, another freaking terrorist attack.” Those were my thoughts.

Only this attack was different. No, not because my brother was the victim. I had no idea about that and was only going to find out later. This one was different because it was recorded. On video. By surveillance cameras.

That means that on that website there was a big Play button. The video. What does one do? They click Play. And so I did.

What the heck was I was watching? A Palestinian kid stab a grown man, a fairly large man, and then the man turns around and chases the terrorist down after he was already stabbed? Wait, what? He just jumped over a wall? He shot him. Who was this guy and what was running through his veins because it sure wasn’t the same stuff I had in my veins. “What a hero”, I thought to myself!

So I did what I always do and I asked in the Fuld WhatsApp group, and I quote, “Is everyone ok? ”

Yes. Smiley and all.

Now here is where things get blurry. Doni, my older brother, the one who is one older than Ari in the lineup, Doni called me. As I remember it, he said two words to me. “It’s Ari.”

I had no idea what he was saying. What was he talking about? What was Ari?

I quickly grabbed my stuff and raced to the hospital. Like I don’t know how I made it there in one piece. On the way, I called Doni for an update. He said “Don’t rush.”

It was over.

That moment was the end and the beginning of the hell that was the year that followed…