The families of the victims of the Merkaz Ha'Rav massacre
have petition Prime Minister Netanyahu not to "give in to terror," as
the Chinese government exerts pressure on Israel not to back an
American-initiated lawsuit against the Bank of China for allegedly funding
deadly terrorist activity.
The lawsuit was filed in 2007 by Jewish American citizens
Yekutiel and Sheryl Wultz, after their 16-year-old son, Daniel, was murdered
the previous year in an Islamic Jihad terrorist attack in Tel Aviv.
According
to the Wall Street Journal, it was the Israeli government who urged the Wultz's
to file the suit and take advantage of tough new US anti-terror laws.
The
Israeli government promised to provide intelligence regarding the involvement
of Chinese banks in funneling money to terrorist groups, including Islamic
Jihad.
However, the current Israeli government has since appeared
to be backtracking, amid widely-reported claims that the Chinese government
pressured Netanyahu to prevent a key intelligence official from testifying, in
exchange for a high-profile visit to China this past May, which promoted highly
lucrative trade ties between Israel and China.
In a letter, signed by the families and rabbis of the eight
youths murdered by an Arab gunman at the Merkaz Ha'Rav high school in 2008, the
Prime Minister was reminded of his address to the families of the victims, one
year after the attack.
"As you know, some of those families suing the Bank of
China are the families of those killed in the terrible attack... on the Merkaz
Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem. On that accursed day eight young, innocent students
were murdered," they wrote.
"At the [first] memorial of the attack you came to
Merkaz Ha'Rav and addressed the gathering crowd [saying]: 'A year ago a major
disaster befell the people of Israel.
Eight of our sons fell as martyrs while
studying Torah. They fell at the hands of murderers who, if they had the
chance, would have murdered us all.
They tried to cut down our spiritual
strength and that is why they came here. In the course of the last year, we
have seen that they failed. We received additional proof of this several months
ago, in an operation against terror in Gaza. The entire nation of Israel
enlisted, including yeshiva students, who also paid a price.
To the families, I
say: accept this day as a consolation, and I believe that with our joint
strength, we will overcome all of our enemies, in the future as well, and
achieve peace for our land and our city.'
"Today, 4.5 years after that speech, we ask the
honorable prime minister not to surrender to the Chinese demands,” the families
wrote. “We are confident that in the overall national view of things, you see
yourself as heading the nation and the families in the fight against terror,
even in the face of heavy pressure from a foreign country, and [contradictory]
interests – important as they may be.
"In friendship and respect, we ask that you stand firm
in the war of the Nation of Israel against terror and to make clear to the
Chinese that the state of Israel will not be dictated to in this matter.”
"We call on Your Honor to come out with a clear
statement that the State of Israel will give the required assistance to the
families, as was promised by your office, so that they can receive justice
vis-a-vis the terror organizations and their accomplices.”
The letter is signed by Rabbi Yaakov Shapira, Dean of Merkaz
Harav Yeshiva; Rabbi Yerachmiel Weiss, Dean of the Yerushalayim Yeshiva for
Youths; Rabbi Elyashav and Moriya Avichail, parents of Segev Pniel Hy”d; Rabbi
Tuvia and Tzofiya Lifshitz, parents of Yochai Hy”d; Rabbi Tzemach and Elisheva
Hirshfeld, parents of Yonadav Haim Hy”d, and Naftali Moses, father of Avraham
David Hy”d; Dror and Avital Eldar, parents of Yonatan Yitzhak Hy”d.
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