30-year anniversary of vicious terrorist attack marked
On March 11th 1978, Israel was stunned when Palestinian terrorists hijacked bus and went on rampage that left 35 dead. 30 years later, survivors meet and admit that it appears little has changed
30 years later and nothing has changed: At a monument located at the Glilot junction on the Tel Aviv - Haifa highway, a yearly remembrance ceremony for the victims of a vicious terrorist attack that occurred 30 years ago was held Sunday morning.
"On Thursday, eight were killed; 30 years ago, 35 were killed – once again a terror attack and once again Jews are killed. Everything has stayed the same," Lily Glutman, the event's organizer and herself a survivor of the attack who lost her husband, wistfully uttered.
On the 11th of March, 1978, a Palestinian terrorist cell from Lebanon infiltrated into Israel via the beach south of Kibbutz Maagan Michael. The attackers' actions, which included a bus hijacking on the Tel Aviv – Haifa highway, ended with 35 dead – entire families were wiped out – and 70 injured.
Following the onslaught, Israel set out on Operation Litani to root out terrorist groups who had found safe haven in southern Lebanon.
Thirty years later, Lily Glutman still has bitter memories of that fateful day. The hardest moment for her was delivering the bad news to her daughter that she no longer had a father.
Scene of terrorist attack (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Office)
"I looked for Anat everywhere in the bus, in the hospital. I finally found her on her way into the operating room. 'Where's Dad?' she asked. 'Dad's not here,' I replied. 'God gave and god took away,' Anat said."
The terrorist attack on the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem on Thursday that left eight dead brought back the painful memories. "Nothing has changed, they don't want us here and we still don't understand that. But this is our land, our country," Glutman said.
'Bring home our boys'
Nonetheless, she has a message for the Israeli government: "At a certain point after the attack, one of the terrorists was released in the Jibril deal. It's possible that he went back to being a terrorist, but it doesn't matter; give us back our soldiers – that is most important.
"We must return the terrorists and bring home our three kidnapped soldiers even if those same terrorists go back to dealing with terrorism."
Welfare and Social Services Minister Yitzhak Herzog said at the ceremony that "in a few weeks it is said in the (Passover) Haggadah that in every generation man should see himself as though he himself left Egypt.
"This week we marked another event that this generation experienced – a painful attack in Jerusalem. When we accompanied our loved ones to their resting place 30 years ago, we hoped that maybe the next generation would not experience more wars and terrorist attacks. But unfortunately, every generation experiences pain and suffering."
