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Hugs in Netanya

(If you are a returning visitor to this page, you can skip the following introduction and click on the links following it to get the latest updates.)

Founded in 1928, this picturesque Israeli coastal city and popular tourist resort is home to approximately 68 schools with 31,000 students.
Because it is only about 9 miles from the Palestinian city of Tulkarm, Netanya is exceptional vulnerable to terror attacks. Tulkarm is a hot-bed of terrorist activity and a strong-hold of the terrorist group Islamic Jihad which has dispatched a number of suicide bombers on deadly missions into Israel. During the current intifada, Netanya has been targeted numerous times by various terrorist groups. The most infamous of those being the March 2002 Passover Seder massacre at the Park Hotel in which 30 people were killed and hundreds more seriously injured. The Sharon Mall in the city center has also been hard hit by terrorist attacks. There have been 3 separate suicide attacks over the course of the last 5 years at the Mall, (one in May 2001, which killed 5 and wounded 74 more; one in July 2004, which killed 5 and wounded more than a hundred more; and one in December 2005 which killed 5 and wounded more than one hundred others.) In two of these, the bomber was prevented from entering the mall by security personnel which saved the lives of many inside the mall. Sadly, the security persons have been among those killed.
Our first contact with the city was setting up one of the inflatable bounce castles at a community center in East Netanya. From that contact, we established a relationship with the Netanya Municipality and from there we began our outreach to children who had been injured in recent terror attacks there.

In this section, we want you to meet a few of the children from those attacks whom we are currently involved with. Please remember them and their families in your prayers and visit their links below regularly for updates on them. Also, we welcome your inquiries regarding their conditions.

East Netanya Community Center

Upon learning that we had these castles available, the Manager of the center contacted us expressing their eagerness to have one. We were very much impressed with his determination. I met with him in September 2005 and after being given a tour of the wide area that the center services, we decided to donate two of the bounce castles to them. The kids have had a blast ever since. Click on the link, “What Israelis Say About Hugs” to your right to see the certificate of appreciation that the manager gave to us. Then visit the Photo Gallery to see more photos.

Liel

A 3-year-old girl badly burned over 60% of her little body in the July 2005 Sharon Mall suicide bombing attack. In the same attack, her 26-year-old mother sustained 3rd degree burns over much of her body as well as life-threatening internal injuries resulting in the removal of portions of various organs. Liel’s grandmother was also critically wounded and died of her injuries in the hospital the day after the attack. here to read more…

Betty

A 17-year-old girl badly burned in the July 2005 Sharon Mall suicide bombing attack together with her best friend, Adi.

Adi

A 17-year-old girl badly burned in the July 2005 Sharon Mall suicide bombing attack together with her best friend, Betty.

Doron

A 17-year-old boy who sustained critical life-threatening internal injuries in the December 2005 Sharon Mall suicide bombing attack. His mother was also badly wounded in the same attack.

Family of 6

The mother of this Ethiopian-Jewish family of 6 children was killed in a double suicide bus bombing in BeerSheva in September 2004. At the time of the bombing the family had only been in Israel for one year. The children and father later moved to Netanya. The children’s names are:

 

Tarick (a 17 year old girl)
Gashow (a 12-year-old boy)
Abitchu (a 10-year-old boy)
Degito (a 7-year-old girl)
Adisu (a 4-year-old boy)
Rachel (a 2-year-old girl)