(21:25) Relatives of slain Israelis reach out to Americans
By Jason Keyser, The Associated Press
JERUSALEM (AP) – Relatives of Israelis who died in hostilities with Palestinians gathered today to draw comfort from a display of thousands of cards sent by American children.
Instead, the grieving Israelis found themselves reaching out to victims in the United States, after the worst terror attack in history leveled the World Trade Center in New York City and part of the Pentagon in Washington yesterday.
The 300 Israelis filled a sunny plaza at Jerusalem's city hall to read the Jewish New Year cards. They had suffered their share of tragedy over nearly a year of Palestinian-Israeli fighting.
"I hope that the kids of Israel will also write cards and letters to the kids whose relatives were killed in yesterday's terror attacks in America," said Daniel Mandell, 12, as his mother Sherri wept. Mandell's brother and a friend were killed in a West Bank cave in May.
Many signed a book of condolences. One entry read: "We are a group of parents who lost our children in the Dolphinarium bombing. Be strong!"
In that June 1 attack, a Palestinian strapped with explosives blew himself up in a crowd of young Israelis waiting to get into the Tel Aviv seaside disco, killing himself and 21 others.
Israeli and American flags at the city hall plaza were lowered to half mast after Israel declared today a day of mourning for the American victims.
People filed past the cards. One was scrawled in a child's handwriting: "Dear person, wish you a happy and safe new year! Sorry what's happening in Israel." The Jewish New Year is to be marked next week.
The cards were on display last week in New York, where Mayor Rudolph Giuliani signed one.
Menachem Ibin, 19, from Great Neck, NY, was there last week together with a survivor of the attack on the Tel Aviv disco, Rita Abramov, 17, who accepted the card.
"Last week I took her to the World Trade Center, to the top floor," said Ibin, who was writing a sign that read, "Israel and USA, stop terrorism now."
The twin towers collapsed after two airliners smashed into them.
"I didn't even know it until I got to Israel," he said. "I got into a taxi and the driver said there's a war there. I said, 'Where, in Israel?' 'No, in America,' the driver said. 'The trade center is gone."'
Seth Mandell, an American immigrant and father of one of the boys killed near the West Bank cave, was shocked to see a tragedy that mirrored his own.
Mandell, who started a foundation named after his slain son to bring together Jewish children who have suffered similar trauma, is now thinking of making the project international.
His wife, Sherri, experienced in grief, had some advice for American victims.
"The pain you're going to feel is totally unbearable," she said. "You're going to wish you were dead. You're going to feel like you're dead. And you have to allow yourself to feel that. ... You will survive this."