‘I felt that I was the messenger from God’ – the commuter who stopped the Tel Aviv bus bombings

When 26-year-old Adi Jegna first noticed the white bag on one of the seats at the back of her city bus in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam on the way home from work Thursday evening, something didn’t feel right. So she got up and took a closer look.

Inside the bag, she saw rolls of toilet paper, and a container with some yellowish liquid. “Frankly speaking I debated whether I should say anything,” she told JNS on Sunday.

However, upon closer examiniation, Jegna notice some Arabic lettering on its contents. “Then I understood I could not ignore it,” she said.

Still worried she was overreacting, she walked up to the bus driver as her stop was approaching and told him that there was a suspicious bag towards the back of the bus, before getting off. Though the bus was almost at the end of its route, there were still some other passengers aboard.

The driver immediately alerted his superiors, who instructed him to head straight to the nearby bus depot while the police bomb squad was alerted. No sooner had he gotten off the bus himself than a huge explosion ripped it apart.

Jegna recalled hearing the blast from her home, but didn’t immediately connect it to her warning. It was only when a friend texted her that there had been a bus bombing, and that someone had alerted the driver to a suspicious object, that she realised just how important her intervention had been.

“I felt incredible,” she told JNS. “I felt that I was the messenger from God to save many people.”

Soon, the enormity of the thwarted attack became clear: Two additional blasts went off prematurely on other city buses – both empty – one in Bat Yam and one in the nearby city of Holon. Security forces subsequently found that an additional bus had been rigged with explosives.

The investigation is examining the possibility that the bombs were mistakenly set to go off at 9pm on a Friday evening, while true target was the morning traffic at 9am the next day.

One of the bombs reportedly bore an Arabic message referencing the Palestinian city of Tulkarem, which Israeli officials have claimed is a hotbed of terrorism. It is one of two areas, along with Jenin, that have been the focus of an IDF operation in the West Bank over recent weeks.

For older Israelis, the images of the demolished bus just south of Tel Aviv brought back memories of the lethal bus bombings of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

While Jegna is too young to remember that time, she has provided a poignant reminder of the importance of speaking out when one sees something suspicious.

“When I saw the pictures of my destroyed bus, I realized the extent of the disaster that was averted,” she said. “Really thank God I was a good messenger.”

As word spread of her action, Israelis heaped praise on the young woman for her alertness and quick thinking, but while Jegna is appreciative of the thanks, she insists she is no hero and just encourages everyone to be alert.

As to her future commutes, Jegna is still riding the buses, including this week.

“I have no other choice as I go to work,” she said. “I’m simply more careful.”