The City of Haifa inaugurated on Thursday a memorial for the victims of a deadly suicide bombing in a seaside restaurant nearly four year ago.
A female suicide bomber blew herself up at the Maxim restaurant on October 4, 2003, killing 21 Israelis and wounding 51 others. Two families and four children, including a two-month-old toddler, were among the victims.
The inauguration was attended by Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter, Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav, survivors, the families of the victims, as well as Muslim, Christian and Jewish religious leaders.
Families lay wreaths at memorial (Photo: Doron Golan)
The families of the victims laid wreaths at the memorial.
Dichter said the event was particularly touching for him as he was the head of the Shin Bet at the time and acknowledged that the organization he once headed had failed to foil the deadly attack.
"I came here with deep sadness because on October 4, 2003, when the murderous attack took place, I was part of the system that was supposed to prevent this terrible bombing," Dichter said.
Noting that the memorial's inauguration fell between Holocaust Remembrance Day and Memorial Day, Dichter added: "We fled here after the Holocaust and we have no intention to flee again. There is no chance of them making us flee from here, neither through suicide bombers nor through Katyusha salvos."