Rage at perceived discrimination in the Organization of Victims of Terrorism
The chairman of the Organization of Victims of Terrorism demands that the names of those victims be added to the new memorial hall on Mount Herzl: 'We deserve a commemoration no less than IDF soldiers. Why are we second-class citizens?'
Abie Moses, chairman of the Organization of Victims of Terrorism, along with other members of the organization, was not invited to the inauguration of the Memorial Hall on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, which was held with the participation of the president, the prime minister and the cabinet. All 4,681 victims of terrorism were left unmentioned.
"It is so jarring and painful that we do not commemorate the victims of terrorism in the Hall of Names, why do we separate blood from blood?" asked Moses, "Add us to the hall as well, we deserve commemoration no less than IDF soldiers. Why are we second-class citizens?"
As early as 2012, when the government decided to establish the hall, members of the organization set out to fight for the inclusion of victims of terrorism in the Hall of Names and even petitioned the High Court of Justice, but their petition failed. The names of the victims are engraved in stone at a monument on Mount Herzl, but they did not receive the honor of being commemorated in the magnificent and innovative memorial hall with illuminated bricks and a virtual memorial candle.
In his speech at the state ceremony on Mount Herzl, Moses demanded that the prime minister and defense minister correct the historic injustice and add the victims of terror to the Hall of Names, or at least establish a modern memorial site similar to the military site.
"As it is, most of our casualties came from lower socio-economic backgrounds, people who took buses and went to work," said Moses. "All of the soldiers have their own plots, which is amazing. We also deserve to have our own section alongside the military cemeteries … No one will say Kaddish over my child after I pass away."
"I am ashamed to face these poor parents and say that my hands are tied. … The parents are angry and so they should be. I respect the IDF soldiers. The fact that a soldier was in uniform and was recognized as an IDF fallen soldier deserves this commemoration, even if it was a suicide or a car accident.
"In that sense, if you immortalize those soldiers, why not commemorate those killed for being Israeli, Jewish, Druze or Circassian citizens? But we are of another blood, apparently inferior. In our organization there are 108 children who were orphaned from both parents—there is no such parallel, not even in the IDF, and that too is forgotten. I've said this more than once: our casualties were soldiers without uniforms."
According to data from the Social Security Institute, the number of civilians killed by terrorism since the establishment of the state to this day is 3,117. This number also includes 122 foreign citizens killed in terrorist attacks in Israel and 100 Israelis who have died abroad. Eleven Israelis have been killed since the last Independence Day, the last one being Hannah Bladon, a student from England who was stabbed to death in Jerusalem during the Passover holiday.
(Translated and edited by N. Elias)
