‘We don’t want them to feel alone’: Jewish survivor leads global solidarity mission for 7/7 anniversary

Sarri Singer remembers everything.

“It was a beautiful day in Jerusalem,” she recalled. “There was no thought in my mind that anything bad was going to happen.” She was heading to meet a friend for dinner on 11 June 2003. For the first time, she took the 14 bus. When they reached Mahane Yehuda market, two women stepped off, freeing up the last two seats in front. “For some reason, I took the window seat – and that saved my life.”

Moments later, an 18-year-old Palestinian terrorist disguised as a religious Jew detonated a suicide bomb two people away. “I thought we got into a bus accident,” she said. “The last thing I thought was that someone had boarded the bus strapped with explosives to hurt and murder innocent people.”

The girl beside her didn’t survive. Her boyfriend, standing in front of her, died too. “They approximated the terrorist was two people away from me. He was probably standing next to the boyfriend based on the blast.”

Sarri, daughter of New Jersey State Senator Bob Singer, had already left a career in Manhattan after narrowly avoiding 9/11. “On the morning of 9/11, I worked downtown, but I overslept. My office was two blocks away from the towers. So, I decided that if I was going to be anywhere, it would be Israel.”

The bombing left her with facial burns, burst eardrums, a broken clavicle and deep shrapnel wounds. After two weeks in hospital, she returned to the US – but came back to Israel that September. “I didn’t want the terrorist to succeed in what he wanted to do, which was to make me afraid and paralyse me from doing things.”

The emotional trauma came later. “I think PTSD can happen at any time. Anything can trigger it. Someone could be fine one day and then something triggers it days, months or years later.”

She began working more closely with fellow survivors and founded Strength to Strength in 2012, a peer-support nonprofit bringing together victims of terror from around the world.

When we share, we become connected. And then we don’t feel alone in what we’re going through

Sarri has attended the 7/7 commemoration in London almost every year since 2010. “I just feel like this is my London family,” she said. “I want to be there for them.”

She returned this year with a delegation of international survivors, including those from 9/11, the Oklahoma City bombing and other attacks in Israel, to mark the 20th anniversary of the London bombings. “Two 9/11 survivors, an Oklahoma City survivor, and another American who survived a terrorist attack in Israel – and also, after his attack, 10 months later, his brother was killed in the army,” she said.

The group joined memorial events at Hyde Park and St Paul’s Cathedral and met with the Shadow Minister for Victims and Sentencing, as well as survivors of 7/7, Manchester Arena, Westminster Bridge, Borough Market and Fishmongers’ Hall. “I think it was extremely impactful to be there to discuss with the shadow minister support services for long-term support for victims here in the UK,” said Sarri. “To try and give some idea of what the needs might be for victims.”

Among those in the delegation was Dorothy “Dot” Hill, who survived the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people, including 19 children. She had returned to the building after the truck exploded to help rescue others. “I was injured, but I went back inside the building to help assist other people and to identify bodies,” she recalled. “That’s where my trauma comes from – not from physical injury.”

The psychological scars took time to register. “I didn’t really care a lot about anyone … I didn’t care for myself. I didn’t care about my family or my kids. I was more concerned with my coworkers and making sure they were okay.”

Even years later, the memories remained vivid. “When you close your eyes, that’s all you see. And that continues today.” But she stressed that peer support groups like Strength to Strength had been a lifeline. “We don’t care where your attack was. We don’t care how much money you make. We’re here to support you emotionally and physically and spiritually – however that works for them.”

Tom Canavan was buried under rubble when the Twin Towers collapsed on 9/11. He was one of only 19 people known to have survived being trapped beneath the debris. “I actually have a legacy … I am the voice of almost 3,000 people who can’t tell their stories anymore.”

He once spent six years working at the 9/11 Memorial Plaza, telling the stories of victims to visitors. “When you make something personal for someone, they remember it their whole life.” Reflecting on the London trip, he added: “When 9/11 happened, the Oklahoma City people came and helped us. Now it’s the other way. We sort of pass the torch.”

“You don’t really help yourself. You’re helping others – and in doing that, you’re helping yourself

Also in the group was Eli Weiss, who was injured in a Jerusalem café bombing in 2001. “Even my wife had never heard me speak about it,” he said. “She knew, but she never heard me actually spell it out.”

Ten months later, his brother was murdered in a separate terror attack. “When something happens to us, we tend to bury a lot of the feelings. But when my brother was killed… he didn’t survive. That was quite devastating.”

He kept the trauma inside for years – until Sarri invited him to speak at a Strength to Strength event in New York. “That was literally the first time I ever had done that,” he said. “It’s incredibly therapeutic. It helps me to hear other stories. It helps me to connect… and not bottle up feelings.”

For Sarri, the reason for being in London this week was simple. “We understand what they’re going through, and we want to be here to support them.”

“Everyone’s journey is different,” she added. “There’s no one-size-fits-all. But when we bring people together who’ve been through it too, that’s when the healing begins.”

To find out more about Strength to Strength and its work supporting victims of terrorism, click here