Right Place

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P inchos Kopperstein 24 Antwerp Belgium

Right Place Wrong Time

The moment I became a household name

I narrowly escaped death at this year’s Brussels airport attack on March 22. I then filmed the first seconds after the attack unwittingly producing what would be the only real-time video of “the minute after.” My video was broadcast by practically every international media outlet and was viewed by millions.

On that day I had dropped off two Israeli Belzer brothers-in-law and their families at the airport and then waited for my pick-up passenger who was delayed at customs in arrivals. With time to spare I guided one of my drop-off passengers to the facilities and waited outside to direct him back to his family — they’d gone upstairs to check in.

Meanwhile to my fortune my pick-up passenger called to tell me he was ready sooner than expected. For some reason the customs agent had singled him out to jump the queue. He told me that when another person in the queue a non-Jew thought he was pointing to him and approached the agent sent him back with a rigid finger and said “No not you. You!” pointing at the Yid.

Hashem clearly wanted me out of that departures building. Out I went and a minute later there was a loud boom. According to news reports the suicide bomber detonated himself right near the facilities where I had been waiting before getting the call from my pickup passenger. Unfortunately the two brothers-in-law I had dropped off were badly injured.