It was exactly a year ago - the 22nd of MarCheshvan, 5761 - that the people of Israel held their collective breath when a large bomb hit a school bus carrying three children of the Cohen family of Kfar Darom. Two adults, Miri Amitai, 36, mother of four, and Gabi Biton, 34, father of six, were killed in the attack, yet the country, as well as Jews around the world, seem to never have forgotten the three siblings who lost legs, or parts thereof, in the attack. Arutz-7\'s Haggai Segal talked with their mother Nogah Cohen today.
\"It seems that, despite the war that has continued intensely here in the past year, your children have turned into a symbol. Can you explain this?\" She answered,
\"The truth is that we were in the middle of things, so we couldn\'t see what was going on. We were amazed and thrilled at the displays of love and caring, people still stop us on the streets and hug the children and enwrap them with love, saying, \'How are you? We followed your story, we were praying for you...\' Their prayers apparently entered the Heavens, thank G-d, and the children are improving... We are waiting and praying for the day that we can return to Kfar Darom; every time we go there for Shabbat, the kids say that they wish they can just stay there and not return to Givat Shmuel.\" The family is in what Nogah calls \"exile,\" probably until the end of the current school year, so that they can be near the rehabilitation clinic in the Tel HaShomer hospital. \"I remember that what most moved us was the people who came to visit us in the hospital, who said that they don\'t agree with us politically but they felt that they just couldn\'t stay away... We feel a little awkward from all the attention paid to us, since we know, and the children even feel, that they did not suffer more than others in this whole story, and that there are other families who have been hurt much harder. For instance, we are very close with the Amitai family [who lost their mother in the same attack]... We have a tremendous need to return to Kfar Darom. We know that five new families moved in during the past year, and it gives us added motivation to want to return there ourselves already!\"
\"It seems that, despite the war that has continued intensely here in the past year, your children have turned into a symbol. Can you explain this?\" She answered,
\"The truth is that we were in the middle of things, so we couldn\'t see what was going on. We were amazed and thrilled at the displays of love and caring, people still stop us on the streets and hug the children and enwrap them with love, saying, \'How are you? We followed your story, we were praying for you...\' Their prayers apparently entered the Heavens, thank G-d, and the children are improving... We are waiting and praying for the day that we can return to Kfar Darom; every time we go there for Shabbat, the kids say that they wish they can just stay there and not return to Givat Shmuel.\" The family is in what Nogah calls \"exile,\" probably until the end of the current school year, so that they can be near the rehabilitation clinic in the Tel HaShomer hospital. \"I remember that what most moved us was the people who came to visit us in the hospital, who said that they don\'t agree with us politically but they felt that they just couldn\'t stay away... We feel a little awkward from all the attention paid to us, since we know, and the children even feel, that they did not suffer more than others in this whole story, and that there are other families who have been hurt much harder. For instance, we are very close with the Amitai family [who lost their mother in the same attack]... We have a tremendous need to return to Kfar Darom. We know that five new families moved in during the past year, and it gives us added motivation to want to return there ourselves already!\"