Ron Kerman, who lost his daughter Tal in a suicide bombing, was shocked this week upon hearing that terrorists nearly managed to carry out an attack almost identical to the one that killed his child.
“It's exactly the same thing, the same methods they used eight and a half years ago,” he told Arutz Sheva. “It's unbelievable, they did 'copy, paste' for a terrorist attack.”
Tal Kerman, 17, was one of 17 people murdered when terrorist Mahmoud Kwasma, a 20-year-old from Hevron, detonated a suicide bomb belt aboard the 37 bus in Haifa. He had help from an Israeli Arab. The bomb belt was smuggled through the city of Abu Dis, just outside Jerusalem.
This week, security forces nabbed Sayid Kwasma, a 20-year-old from Hevron, before he could pick up a suicide bomb belt that had been prepared for him and smuggled through Abu Dis. Kwasma, who was working with an Israeli Arab, was planning a suicide bombing in Jerusalem.
Kerman expressed upset that Israel had not yet learned its lesson. “The Palestinians say it clearly every day, 'We don't want Jews or Israelis.' There is no difference between Hamas and Fatah, except that Hamas says it does not want Jews here and now, while Fatah says it does not want any Jews in Israel in a few years from now,” he said.
“I have been paying the price every single day for eight and a half years,” he continued. “If the crossing in the security fence in Abu Dis were closed, if they weren't considerate of the Palestinians, my daughter would be alive today. I still can't believe that they used the same methods, and I hope that we have learned our lesson.”
Shalit Release: One for One
One of the terrorists Hamas has demanded be freed in exchange for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit is the plotter of the attack in which Tal was murdered. Kerman says he would be willing to see the terrorist released, but only in a one-for-one trade.
The government must reject demands to release 1,000 or more terrorists for Shalit, he said. “Of course its hard to hear the parents' pleas, but politicians are responsible to the citizens of Israel. The country must act in a responsible way, with intelligence, not emotion,” he stated.
Kerman concluded, “We must remember that the security apparatus prevents terrorist attacks every day, proving that the Palestinians have not abandoned terror, they simply aren't succeeding in carrying out attacks.”