Moriah Cohen, Stabbed By Her Terrorist Neighbor, Describes Ordeal But Says She’s Not Leaving

JERUSALEM (VINnews)— Moriah Cohen, the woman who was stabbed in the back by a terrorist Wednesday morning near Shimon Hatzadik, recollected the incident on Channel 12 during the evening. Cohen was released from hospital earlier in the day after suffering light injuries.

Cohen, a 26-year-old mother of 5, told Channel 12 news on Wednesday evening that she noticed the assailant, “who had such hatred in her eyes.”

She then felt “a hard blow on my back, and I screamed in pain, and my son said to me, ‘Mommy, you have a knife in your back’.”

Moriah Cohen with her children after release from hospital: 

In the commotion that followed, as she called for help, “the terrorist, it seems, panicked and ran away,” Dvir Cohen, her husband, said.

“It was a miracle,” he said. “If she had continued, I don’t know how this would have ended. I don’t want to think about it.”

Dvir added that his wife is “feeling fine” despite being stabbed in the back with a 30 cm knife.

“She said it hurts less than childbirth,” he quipped.

Moriah said that she does not want to dwell on what triggered the attack and just wants to thank Hashem for the miracle as well as the wonderful people who treated her and took care of her children.

The attacker lives adjacent to the Cohen family, although the Jewish families in Nachalat Shimon do not have much interaction with their Arab neighbors. It is not clear as yet if the  attacker intentionally targeted the victim because she lives in the neighborhood. The Cohens are one of several dozen Jewish families who live in Nachalat Shimon, situated next to the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood where riots broke out in May after the court determined that Arab tenants in Jewish owned homes would be evicted from their homes if they did not recognize the Jewish ownership.

Cohen said there have been issues between the Jewish and Arab residents for a while, with the latter often throwing stones at them, and during May fighting between Israel and the Gaza Strip nearly a dozen Molotov cocktails were tossed at their home.

But, despite the danger, Dvir Cohen said the family will continue to live in the neighborhood.

“It is part of our mission in life,” he said.

“I won’t give up on being here,” Moriah Cohen said in her TV interview.