Thousands attend memorial event to victims of flash flood disaster
Some 4,000 people flock to Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, about 500 come together at Zion Square in Jerusalem and hundreds more remember Tzur Alfi in Mazkeret Batya; 'It felt like the right thing to do: to come together, support each other and remember together,' says organizer of Tel Aviv event.
Some 4,000 students of pre-miliary academies, teenagers and youth held a memorial event at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv on Saturday night for the ten teenagers who were killed in the flash flood disaster at the Zafit Stream.
Students from the Bnei Zion pre-military academy, where the victims of the disaster were due to start studying in the fall, sat in a circle of remembrance, cried together, sang songs and offered support to one another. Graduates and instructors from the academy spoke with the students and offered support as well.
Several public representatives also participated in the event, including Zionist Union leader Avi Gabbay and MKs Tzipi Livni and Yael Cohen Paran (Zionist Union) and Meretz leader Tamar Zandberg.
A memorial wall was put up at Rabin Square with the names of the victims, where participants could write words in their memory.
The Tel Aviv municipality building, which is adjacent to the square, was lit up blue-and-white, the Israeli flag's colors, in solidarity.
"I didn't know any of them personally, but they all were, or were going to be, part of the world of pre-military academy, which I became a part of this year," wrote event organizer Ori Dvir from the Rabin pre-military academy in Haifa.
"It felt like the right thing to do to come together, support each other and remember together," Dvir told Ynet. "There are a lot of students from pre-military academies here, some who are going to be students there next year, those who took a gap-year before the army, high school students and a lot of youth who feel the need to experience this pain together and share."
"Along with the entire people of Israel, we all share in the great pain over the death of the ten young men and women, some of our best sons and daughters, who were killed in this horrible disaster. These are unbearably difficult days, and we embrace the families who lost their loved ones," Zamir said.
"There's no doubt this is a difficult disaster and we must learn from what happened. We ask to let the authorities conduct all of the necessary investigations to ensure such a tragedy never happens again," Zamir went on to say.
Itay Maron, a student at the Paran pre-military academy in the Arabah valley, said he came to show his support to the families of the victims, his fellow students and the pedagogical staff at the pre-military academies.
"I keep hearing about the argument over who is responsible, the Defense Ministry or the Education Ministry, and I think no one was responsible," he said. "What's for sure is that now, lessons from these mistakes will be learned and an emphasis will be put on school trips."
Shir Chen-Tov, who attends the Nachshon pre-military academy in Sderot, also came to offer her support.
"I came here to say that despite the big disaster, it must not hurt the pre-military academies, because we're all going through an important and significant process. I will soon find out which IDF unit I'm enlisting into next year, and I have no doubt the academy prepared me in the best way for a significant service," she said.
A similar event took place at Zion Square in Jerusalem, where some 500 teenagers and passersby came together to remember the ten teens. They were joined by Kulanu MK Rachel Azaria.
Tomer Mazor, 19, from Jerusalem, said he came to show solidarity despite not knowing any of the victims.
"We just left the house with the guitar, and because of the deep pain we gathered at Zion Square to give expression to the grief that has struck our country," said Mazor, who studies at the Hevruta Gap-Year Learning and Leadership program at the Shalom Hartman Institute. "It's part of our Israeli culture. We were glad to find other people who felt like us and spontaneously joined this initiative."
In Mazkeret Batya, hundreds of students gathered at the Amphipark for a memorial event for Tzur Alfi, one of the students killed in the flash flood disaster.
"Tzur was a very good friend of mine. We came here to commemorate, feel the pain of his loss and grieve him," said Linoy, who went to school with Tzur. "His friends wrote about their shared experiences with Tzur and about missing him."
Mika, who was in the same class as Tzur, said he was "an amazing kid. You didn't have to be close to him to feel like he was your best friend. Anyone who knew him, knew he was the best person. There's no one here not thankful for the opportunity to know Tzur."
Ofek, who also studied in the same class, said Tzur dreamed of serving in the Air Force's search and rescue unit 669. "In the end, Tzur died while he was resucing and saving people," he said.
The ten teens killed in the flash flood were Ela Or from Ma’ale Adumim, Romi Cohen from Moshav Maor, Yael Sadan from Jerusalem, Maayan Barhum from Jerusalem, Agam Levy from Moshav Herut, Gali Balelli from Givatayim, Shani Shamir from Shoham, Adi Ra’anan from Moshav Mikhmoret, Tzur Alfi from Mazkeret Batya, also in central Israel and Ilan Bar Shalom from Rishon LeZion.
Seven of them were laid to rest on Friday, while the three remaining will be buried on Sunday.
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Itay Blumenthal, Kobi Nachshoni and Gilad Morag contributed to this story.
