Yisrael Gantz, father of Tzipi Rimmel
Yisrael Gantz, father of Tzipi RimmelArutz Sheva

Yisrael Gantz, father of the late Tzipi Rimmel who was killed with her infant daughter in the Route 443 collision, tells Arutz Sheva about dealing with the serious disaster that befell the family and relates to the condition of Efraim his son-in-law and grandson who were severely injured in the accident.

"Efraim talked to us on the phone. We can't get to the hospital because we're busy raising the children in Neve Tzuf. We left the house in Tzafariya to live with the children," he says. "We ask the Master of the World to help us raise the children until the father heals because the generation gap makes it more difficult for us to raise children."

About the children's coping, Gantz says: "To understand the difficulty, I will relate a question one of the children asked me when I took him to school this morning. He asked me 'Grandpa, can you imagine Mommy old? I can't. She'll always stay young for me.' On Friday when we got up from shiva, he said, "Grandpa, do you know you have a transparent daughter? We have something in common. My mother's also transparent ...' Who's the psychologist who can explain to me what to say to him and how to get it out of there?"

About the grandson, Itay, Yisrael says: "We were called to the hospital last Friday. We were told that in the meantime there's been no change and his condition is absolutely critical. Every day that passes is a miracle. That's the situation as of today."

Gantz says: "My feeling is clear and unequivocal. Whoever did this thing in such a frenzy doesn't belong on the road, and as I was hurt he must be hurt. Not out of revenge or anything similar. His place belongs with criminals. Such a person can't be on the road. There must be a punishment that will serve as an example to others.

"It's quite clear to me that this was no ordinary accident. It was an act of craziness on the road. We have evidence from people who were there that the driver went crazy and a driver who goes crazy on the road has to pay in full severity of the law. There's no penalty that will bring us back our daughter and three-week-old granddaughter. But there's a punishment that will deter other criminals from behaving like this on the road. Vengeance brings nothing. There's a punishment that must deter, his family too, who will educate future generations."

According to him, while in "normal" accidents, some forgiveness may be forthcoming on the grounds that it was a human error, on the other hand "in such an accident, there's no forgiveness because the results are foreseeable. Anyone who drives at such speeds it's inevitable. When a person is at a traffic light and someone crashes into him from behind at 170 or 150 kph it's known, it's not human error. There are no signs that he tried to stop whatsoever. I don't mix into law and justice, but my opinion is that such a person shouldn't see light of day and his family can educate future generations not to do such things. Without a daunting penalty, there will be other such ticking bombs on the road.

"It's important for me to save the next victims, so it won't happen to them," the bereaved father emphasizes. "No amnesty. There's no forgiveness for such things."

אביה של הרוגת התאונה: אין סליחה ואין מחילה