Would We Pass the Courage Test?

Of courage there was plenty. The best-known video from the shootings is of a middle-aged, Syrian-born man, Ahmed al-Ahmed, who snuck up unarmed behind one of the two shooters and wrested his gun from him. He simultaneously performed two crucial functions: He took one of the shooters temporarily out of commission for decisive moments, and thereby likely saved many lives. And second, he demonstrated the error of lumping together all Muslims, or all Muslims from Middle Eastern countries, and arguing that none can make good citizens in Western democracies.

Apparently, Ahmed al-Ahmed was aided by an Israeli living in Australia, Gefen Bitton, whose phone showed that he had rushed to the heart of the danger in an effort to distract the shooter and make it possible for al-Ahmed to sneak up on him from behind. Bitton is still in critical condition, after being shot multiple times.

At least three Jews were murdered in attempts to fight with the shooters. Boris Gutman, 69, succeeded in wresting away the gun of one of the shooters, only to be shot and killed, along with his wife, Sofia, when the shooter retrieved another gun. Reuven Morrison deliberately walked around in the open to draw fire away from other Jewish celebrants rushing to take cover, and was later seen throwing a brick at one of the shooters. He, too, was killed.

Jessica Rozen, expecting her third child, grabbed a three-year-old girl, who was momentarily unattended when the shooting broke out, and lay on top of her to shield her from bullets, while repeating in a remarkably calm voice, “I got you. I got you. I got you,” over and over. “No one is going to hurt us, okay?”