American Tourists with Christian Radio Show close to assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Reha
By Dan Wooding
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (ANS) – American Christian tourists visiting Israel with David Hocking’s Hope for Today radio show, were just feet from where Palestinian gunmen assassinated Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi on Wednesday, October 17.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) claimed responsibility for shooting Zeevi, a 75-year-old former general who advocated the “transfer” of Arabs from land claimed by Jews. The killing, which took place at the Hyatt Hotel, was said to be in revenge for the killing of their militant leader, throwing U.S.-led peace efforts into turmoil.
Hocking, a well-known Bible teacher who is based in Tustin, California and has been teaching on the radio since 1970, was in his eighth-floor room when he said he heard a thud and came out of his room to see Zeevi lying in the hall in a pool of blood and his wife beside him, screaming.
“I saw her kneeling over him. He had obviously been shot. The blood was everywhere,” said Hocking.
Thomas “Ed” Steele is the co-leader of the Hope for Today tour group and along with many others in the tour group, was about 50 feet from the assassination of the Minister of Tourism.
His wife Mary Belle Steele said from her home in Santa Ana, California, that she received a call from her husband in which he said that he had seen the minister and his wife having breakfast and then get up to leave.
“Ed didn’t hear the gunshots as apparently silencers were used, but one of the Hope for Today tour group was a nurse and she rushed to do CPR on the minister,” said Mrs. Steele. “Ed said that he heard the screaming, but because he doesn’t speak Hebrew he didn’t want to hinder the situation for those who were helping and so didn’t go to the corridor.
“Ed also told me that all of the tour group were interviewed about the incident and they have now resumed the tour. They will be returning to the US on Monday.”
When asked if the group were afraid for their safety, Mrs. Steele replied, “One man put it this way: ‘We are immortal until God’s ready for us.'”