Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

WATCH: Elderly Israeli Aid Worker Attacked By Lion While On Safari

The chairman of an Israeli aid group was attacked by a lion while on safari in Africa, the Jewish Chronicle reported.

Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, the head of ZAKA, who was in South Africa to train search and rescue volunteers, was pounced on by a lioness as he walked next to her.

“It was absolutely terrifying, for the first time in my life I felt real fear, and the power of the lioness,” said Meshi-Zahav. “Out of instinct, I grabbed my kippa so that it wouldn’t fly off.”

Guides quickly moved the lion away from Meshi-Zahav, who escaped unscathed. He said that all he needed was a tetanus injection.

He reported that the attack brought to mind a biblical verse: “Do not be afraid o Israel, fear not, for are you not a lion’s cub.”

In September, ZAKA sent a team to Houston to help clean up in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.