WarSclerotic

Israeli recounts horror of Nairobi terror attack – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Sitting at café in Westgate Mall, Yariv Keidar heard massive blasts, gunfire and immediately hid passport, all papers identifying him as Israeli. ‘I think the terrorists tried to hit Western symbols,’ says

Itay Blumenthal

At least three Israelis were rescued from Nairobi’s Westgate Mall, which came under a deadly terror attack on Saturday. Among them was Yariv Keidar, an employee of the Amiran company who has been operating in Kenya for the past seven years.

The attack caught him eating lunch at a café inside the mall. “At 12:25 pm I heard massive blasts outside the shopping center,” he related. “After three loud blasts we heard gunfire over our heads.”

One of the café goers sustained a bullet to the leg, signaling to all those present that the mall had come under attack. “People in panic started screaming,” Keidar recounts.

“The terrorists fired round at all directions. At that second I hid all my papers that could identify me as an Israeli – my passport and work papers – so that I won’t get kidnapped or be hurt because I’m Israeli. My co-worker did the same. We stayed under the table until local security forces came.”

Keidar believes that while the attack was carried out near Israeli-owned stores, it was not an attempt to target Israelis. “They could have fired only at the stores or God forbid hit the synagogue. I think the terrorists tried to hit Western symbols. They are at war with the Kenyan government.”

Nairobi’s Westgate Mall attracts businessmen from around the world including from Arab states. A group of Israelis operate four restaurants at the upscale shopping center: a café, a tapas bar, a hamburger place and a sushi parlor.

“At first I heard that an Israeli was taken hostage but I heard she was released. One of the sushi parlor’s managers hid in the bathroom for an hour and a half until he managed to escape,” Keidar said.

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