Shuva Malka, an 18-year-old Israeli high school student who was brutally stabbed by an Arab from Jenin in Afula last week, has been moved from the ICU unit at HaEmek Medical Center, and praised the security forces and medical teams who helped save her life.
“Thank you to the master of the world who really did give us a huge miracle,” the teen said from her bed on Sunday. “Every second in which I am alive and strong, thank God, is not to be taken for granted at all.”
The stabbing took place at a bus station in Afula on June 11. Shuva, from the northern community of Migdal HaEmek, was on her way to matriculation exams when 20-year-old Nur Shinawi approached and knifed her multiple times in the upper body. The girl managed to stagger to a cafe several meters away before collapsing.
Shinawi initially fled the scene in a taxi cab, but aroused suspicion in taxi driver Tomer Mazel Tov, who drove behind them, placing a call to police and trailing the car. Shinawi ultimately exited the cab and was captured when police shot him in the leg.
“I feel like this stabbing was not something that is personal to me,” said Shuva. “It is against the entire people of Israel. It is a reminder that we must move forward, grow from this, work harder and move up a gear.”
She urged Israelis to pray for her. “Pray,” she said. “The nation of Israel is strong; we have huge strength, and that is what will strengthen me.”
“Thank you to everybody who has supported us, to the medical staff, to my friends and to the entire people of Israel,” she added. “What a wonderful people!”
Shuva’s doctors stressed that her wounds were severe and critical, but that she appears to be gaining strength.
Eli Barda, mayor of Shuva’s hometown of Migdal HaEmek , issued a statement thanking God for her recovery. “We are here to say thank God who saved this girl,” said Barda. “Thank God she was saved by the parents and their actions. We are supporting the parents and are praying for Shuva.”
“We must thank the security forces who acted swiftly; we must thank the hospital which treated her wonderfully and the people of Israel who are keeping the family strong. She was extremely moved by the love that she received from all the people of Israel,” he said.
Shuva’s mother, Michal Malka, reported that police have yet to recognize the incident as a terror attack—something the family urged authorities to do.
