This time, it's London
Photo: Reuters
Reliving the trauma
Children of families that lost loved ones to terrorism go on tour of London; on the last day of trip, their families back home relive traumas after British capital rocked by explosions
TEL AVIV - A group of 21 children from terror-stricken, Israeli families were in London on a one-week tour organized by One Family Fund, a victims’ support group, when terrorists struck.
The trip was meant to take the children’s minds off of what they had endured, but on Thursday, the last day of their vacation, terror found them.
Al-Qaeda in U.K.
By Ynetnews and News Agencies
VIDEO: At least 37people killed in series of bus and subway explosions in British capital, death toll expected to rise, local police officials say; al-Qaeda-affiliated group says attacks revenge for Iraq and Afghanistan wars
She told Ynet, “I was in shock; it took me three years back to February 2002, to the shooting attack at the checkpoint near Ramallah, the one in which my brother was killed … I felt like this was a re-run, and it stressed me out."
“We didn’t know what to think. We didn’t know anything. I called my mother, who is naturally nervous, right away, and she got very frantic. She called One Family, which told her that the telephones were overloaded and it was hard to reach them. After a few minutes, they called back and told us that the group was fine.”
Parents sitting on egg shells
Suzy Barzilai from Netanya gnawed at her fingernails when she heard about the attack; her daughter Maya was in London.
“I called Maya, but I could not reach her because the lines were down. I felt like I was going back three years to when my son Avraham was murdered at Megido Junction …It was a nightmare until I reached her,” she said.
Belo Ron lost his son Tomer in March 2003 in Hebron, and his 21-year-old daughter Yifat was on the trip.
“While at work I heard about the attack on the radio and they reported more and more bombings,” Ron said. “Immediately, I thought, ‘What happened to my daughter and her group?’”
The director of One Family in Britain, Andrew Alexander, told Ynet, “We are really sad and, more than that, in shock. What pains me is that we brought this group to London so they could forget their troubles in Israel and happens to them here.”
