A clandestine undertaking on behalf of Israel, the Jets and the Jews.

 
Sbarro Five Years Later

A month before 9/11, the bombing at Sbarro five years ago today was particularly painful, shattering any remaining illusion that any place in Israel was safe from Arafat and Hamas' terror war.

By then, Israel had already been enduring nearly a year of mass murder of its civilians. Men, women and children were shot dead on roads, stoned to death in the woods, lynched by Arab mobs, and blown up in suicide bombings.

When Sbarro was bombed, the first reaction of many here in the U.S. was shock that a place they'd eaten at many times, right on the corner of King George and Jaffa, had been hit. Within a few months, the center of Jerusalem would sustain repeated bombings, but then, the idea of a very familiar place becoming such a horrific venue was itself a shock.

When reports about the many victims quickly surfaced, the shock turned into terrible pain. There was Shoshana Greenbaum, who was visiting Israel from New Jersey and was pregnant with her first child. Frieda Mendelsohn, the wife of the shamash at the Yeshurun Shul a few minutes walk away, who had come to Sbarro with her daughter after taking some medical tests. Michal Raziel and Malki Roth were 16 and 15, and close friends who had gone to Sbarro for lunch. Ten year old Yocheved Shoshan was eating pizza with her mother and two sisters. She and her sister went downstairs to order another slice when the bomber entered. Yocheved was killed, her sister Miriam seriously wounded.

Many more were seriously wounded, including Chana Nachenberg, who had made aliyah from New York, and who remains in a coma. Chana was with her then 3 year old daughter, who avoided physical injury.

Most painful was the fate of the Schijveschuurder family, which had made aliyah from Holland. Both parents - Motti and Tzira - and three children, 14 year old Ra'aya, 4 year old Yitzchak, and 2 year old Chemda were all murdered. As they were dying, in their final seconds, Yitzchak asked his father to help him. Motti responded by saying the shema yisrael prayer. Sisters Leah and Chaya were physically wounded and emotionally devastated, but survived, as did three older brothers who were not at Sbarro. A few months later, Leah and Chaya went back to Holland to live with relatives.

Sbarro was quickly rebuilt and reopened, but today, there is a bakery at the large storefront at the intersection of King George and Jaffa. The inside of the store is completely different, and stopping off for a pastry there, it's easy to forget the destruction that occurred five years ago.

Sbarro is in a smaller space about a five minute walk down Jaffa Road. The small memorial for the victims of August 9, 2001 was moved there.

May their memories be a blessing, and may God avenge their blood and pour out his wrath upon the evil enemies of the civilized world.
posted on 8/09/2006