Six Israelis lost their lives and 33 were injured when a Palestinian terrorist burst into a Hadera banquet hall Thursday night and opened fire on guests celebrating a bat mitzvah party.

"I came to the party, and was the happiest girl in the world," said Nina Kardashov, 12, the bat mitzvah girl. "Everyone came and celebrated with me . . . I came down [into the hall] in a special elevator, and went onto the dance floor to celebrate. And that's when it happened."

Home videos shown on Israeli television captured the horror of dancing and merriment being disrupted by automatic weapons fire as the gunmen turned his weapon at random on the celebrants.

Kardashov, who was interviewed by the Israeli media over the weekend, refused to take off the earrings given to her by her grandfather Edward Bakshayev moments before the attack. "All of a sudden a man who didn't belong came in and started shooting. … He killed my grandfather. My grandfather! The photographer grabbed me and threw me down, so that I wouldn't get hurt . . . I lay there, with another friend and we didn't want to die.

"We couldn't know this would happen at my party," she said, over and over. "I am very sad now. I am crying and asking why did this happen at my party? Why did he kill my grandfather? It was supposed to be the happiest day of my life, and everything fell apart, and blew up."

But the death toll of the terror attack would have been much higher if was not for the heroic efforts of the celebrants to fight off the heavily-armed terrorist, who was prevented from reloading his M-16 rifle with the multiple ammunition clips on his belt or to detonate the grenade he brought to the party.

Singer saves life of co-entertainer
The life of the female singer of the band hired to provide entertainment for the celebration was spared when Aharon (Roni) Ben Yisrael-Alis, pushed her to the floor moments after the shooting attack began. "He took the bullets; I was hit by two bullets in arm and started bleeding," the singer told Maariv. "Roni and I were the only band members to get hurt. I understood immediately what was happening. Roni was killed."

Ben Yisrael-Alis, 32 was the first Israeli-born member of Dimona's Black Hebrew community; his parents were originally from Chicago. "He was a wonderful person, a good and devoted friend, who took great care of my five children, as if he were their father," said Leslie Lex, with whom Ben Yisrael-Alis had been living for the past six years.

A few years ago, Ben Yisrael-Alis left Dimona and moved to Raanana to pursue a career in music. A tenor, he performed alone, or with bands across Israel, singing in Hebrew, English and Russian. He is to be buried in Dimona.

Arab police volunteer helps gun down terrorist
"I knew I had to do it, to save lives," said Shadi, the Arab volunteer with the Israeli Police who shot and killed the terrorist gunmen outside the Armon David banquet hall. "This man didn't differentiate between Jew and Arab; he just came to kill, so we killed him.

"I always carry a gun, ready for any eventuality," Shadi told Yediot Aharonot. Shadi had been a volunteer for the Magen David Adom medical emergency service for six years, and had volunteered with the police for three years. "I came to the hall as part of my police duties. I saw the terrorist reach his hand towards something that looked like an explosive device. I realized that I had to act. Along with Cmdr. Shimon Lugasi I drew my gun, and we killed the terrorist."

Shadi said the fact that he, himself, was Arab didn't make it difficult for him to shoot the terrorist. "My motto is to save lives." His commanders commended his actions and those of Lugasi. "It could have ended much worse," they said.

New immigrant Israelis hit hard in terror attacks
Yediot Aharonot reported that 37% of the Israelis killed in terror attacks since the start of the Intifada have been new immigrants in Israel. Most of the teenagers killed in the terrorist attack at the Dolphinarium discotheque last June 1 were new immigrants from Russia. In Thursday's attack in Hadera, four out of the six people killed were recent arrivals in Israel.

Hard hit in Hadera were members of the community of new immigrants from the Caucasus areas of the former Soviet Union. This community, known in some circles as "Jews of the hills," constitutes some 100,000 people in Israel and is considered a tight-knit family.

Edward Bakshayev, 48, of Or Akiva, the step-grandfather of the bat-mitzvah girl, immigrated to Israel from the Caucasus in 1991. He and his cousin, Anatoly Bakshayev, 63, were killed in the Hadera attack.

Some members of the community expressed pride in the actions taken by celebrants at the bat mitzvah after the gunman started shooting. "Our men are real men. Only they could have jumped, without weapons, on an armed terrorist to protect their women and children," they said, quoted in Yediot Aharonot.

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