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Shema

Yisroel, what did you hear
in the back of the bus
pinned between memory and steel



Did you hear the girl explode in a delussion of martyrdom?
Did you hear the towels sopping blood from the streets?
Did you hear the film spinning like a circus ride?
Did you hear the soldier shout to the ambulance driver?

Did you hear the continuous commentary of the endless newsbreak above
the din of metal cutters?
Did you hear the cheque cut from the Saudi account in the Swiss
banque?
Did you hear them chanting "Zionism=nazism" in Chicago and New
York?
Yisroel, in the land of milk and honey, why do you hear only sirens
and death?

On Friday, 12 April 2002, near 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon, as Jerusalemites were rushing for shabat, a young woman detonated herself outside a bus near Machne Yehuda. As usual, the rescue, triage, and removal of victims was swift. However, one passenger remained pinned in the bus for two hours.

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