Netanya’s sombre seder reflections

FACING their demons head-on, victims of the notorious seder night bombing at Netanya’s Park Hotel returned there on Tuesday for the 10th anniversary of the attack, which claimed 30 lives and left dozens more injured. Some 100 victims and relatives spent the afternoon and evening at the site for a memorial event and therapy session, organised by the charity One Family.

Among those commemorating the massacre was Dalia Falistian (pictured left), whose parents were killed in the attack.

The Times of Israel reported that Falistian, 52, spoke to her parents, Dvora and Michael Karim, just before the seder. She had been with her boyfriend that night. They learnt of the attack when he turned on the television at midnight.

Rushing to the hospital she was unable to find her parents. However, in the early hours of the morning, she was called to identify them at the Tel Aviv morgue.

Speaking of her struggles since, she credited One Family with helping her regain her bearings, adding that she counts her age not from her birthday, but from when she heard about the bombing.

“At that time my life was finished,” she said.