10 Years Since Hebrew University Terrorist Bombing
It's been 10 years since Palestinian Authority terrorists
murdered students and staff at Hebrew University's Mount Scopus campus, during
the 2002 Second Intifada, also known to some as the Oslo War.
A memorial service was held Tuesday in the Nancy Reagan
Plaza near the scene of the bombing to mark the somber occasion.
The ceremony, which opened with the recitation of the Yizkor
memorial prayer, was followed by a reading of the names of the victims by
Hebrew University Vice President and Director-General Billy Shapira. The
Kaddish prayer at the conclusion of the proceedings was recited by Itzik
Barashi, brother of victim Revital Barashi, who had worked in the Faculty of
Law.
The event was attended by U.S. Ambassador to Israel
Daniel Shapiro and French Ambassador to Israel Christophe Bigot, among others.
Benjamin Blustein, Marla Bennett, Revital Barashi, David
Gritz, David Diego Ladowski, Janis Ruth Coulter, Dina Carter, Levina Shapira
and Daphna Spruch – a total of nine students and staff members, including five
Americans – all died in the attack.
Nearly one hundred others were also wounded in the 2002
terrorist bombing of the main cafeteria at the university.
"It is not only a time to mourn, but also a time to
reflect upon the mission entrusted to us,” said Hebrew University President
Professor Menachem Ben-Sasson at the ceremony.
"We are entrusted with the development of knowledge
that knows no shade of skin or religion. And so we say to the families, we
shall endure. If depraved terrorists wish to disrupt the things upon which all
human beings base their lives, they will not succeed.”
The former commander of the Hamas military wing in the PA
controlled areas of Judea and Samaria – Ibrahim Hamad – was convicted last
month of ordering the cafeteria massacre. Hamad, 47, was also involved in a
series of other murderous terror attacks, including one at the Sheffield Club
in Rishon Letzion, a suicide bombing at Cafe Moment and an attack at the Ben
Yehuda pedestrian mall, both in Jerusalem.
However, the Hamas operative who actually assisted with
carrying out the bombing of the university's Frank Sinatra cafeteria was
released from an Israeli prison last year in exchange for the return of
kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. Walid Anajas also was involved in the 2002
bombings at Jerusalem's Café Moment which killed 11, and the Sheffield Club
attack in Rishon Letzion that killed 16.
Anajas was one of 1,027 PA terrorist prisoners who were
freed by Israel in exchange for Shalit's release by the Hamas terrorists who
kidnapped the soldier in a 2006 joint cross-border raid from Gaza, along with
the Popular Resistance Committees and Army of Islam terrorist organizations.
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