Charlie Shlush z”l
At the 2012 Yom Hazikaron Commemoration, Efrat Metzler lit a candle (left) for her late, beloved uncle Shalom “Charlie” Shlush and in honor of all the Israeli victims of terror whose lives have been cut short by terror attacks.
Charlie Shlush was part of the “Yamam”, Israel’s counter – terrorism unit. However on the morning of October 20, 1990, it was on the streets of Baka in Jerusalem that he encountered a terrorist on a rampage wielding a 15 inch knife.
Hearing the screams of Iris Azulay z”l, an 18 year old female soldier who had been attacked and died at the hands of the terrorist, Charlie grabbed his gun followed by Yael his heavily pregnant wife. Before Charlie was able to reach them, the terrorist also killed Eli Ataraz z”l and managed to slash a 13 year-old boy walking to school. Reaching the terrorist Charlie fired a warning shot into the air, an attempt to get him to surrender. When that failed he shot the terrorist in the legs in order to neutralize him and the terrorist fell wounded to the ground. Charlie ran to arrest him not knowing he was hiding another knife behind his back and the terrorist fatally stabbed him.
Charlie Shlush was 26 years old at the time of his death. Yael, a widow and nine months pregnant, gave birth to a baby girl, Shirli, just one week later.