(live here) – In a chilling coincidence, just two days before the anniversary of the attack on bus line 37 that occurred in Haifa 22 years ago, this morning (03/03/2025) a stabbing attack occurred at the central bus station in Haifa Bay.
Five people were injured in the attack, one of whom, a 65-year-old man, was stabbed to death. The terrorist, a 20-year-old resident of Shfaram who had recently returned from abroad, began stabbing people inside bus 167, got off the bus and brutally stabbed another person, then continued to the platform, where he was subdued by a security guard and a civilian, until he was neutralized at the scene.
Returned from a stay abroad
The terrorist, a German citizen, returned to Israel last week, after living abroad for several months. The circumstances of the attack are still being investigated, with his family claiming that he suffered from mental health problems.
Painful memory
The attack, as mentioned, occurred just two days before the 22nd anniversary of the attack on bus 37, which occurred on March 5, 2003. At that time, a suicide bomber boarded a bus carrying many students returning from school and blew himself up as the bus passed through Moriah Boulevard in the city. The attack killed 17 people, including eight schoolchildren. It later emerged that the terrorist did not act alone, and that several other terrorists were involved in organizing the attack.
Consequences of releasing the terrorists
Of the five terrorists who were imprisoned following the attack, three were released as part of the Shalit deal, one was released after serving 20 years in prison, and the terrorist who remained in prison was released in the final phase of the hostage deal, a few days ago. Today, none of the terrorists involved in the attack on Route 37 remain in Israeli prison. A monument stands at the site of the attack, engraved with the names of those murdered.
"Takes me back to that terrible day"
Yossi Tzur, the father of the late Assaf Tzur, who was murdered in the attack on bus 37, talks about the difficult feelings that arose in him following the current attack: "We are in a sensitive week, because we are preparing for the memorial, and then I am exposed to the news and see the words 'attack,' 'bus,' and 'blue ID card.' It immediately throws me back to that day 22 years ago. It is difficult to hear about a 15-year-old boy who was injured in the current attack. It reminds me of the students who were murdered in our attack. They are all triggers that bring me back to the immense pain."
"It's hard to believe it's been 22 years"
This year, the anniversary of the attack falls on the exact same day of the week it happened – Wednesday. “It brings back what it was like then,” says Tzur. “On the Thursday after the attack, funerals were held one after the other, and this year there are many memorials again, six on Friday morning. People wander from memorial to memorial, it brings back some of those days. It’s hard to believe that 22 years have passed.”
"The terrorists were released – our children remained buried"
Tzur refers with pain to the release of the last terrorist who was released from among those involved in the attack: "There are no more terrorists in prison, only we remained with our children in the graves. Four of them were released in various deals, the last one was released as part of the last release of 600 terrorists. The terrorists are gone, but our pain remains forever."
"We have learned nothing, we continue to release terrorists"
Ron Kerman, the father of the late Tal Kerman, who was murdered in a bus attack on bus 37 when she was 17, also referred to the attack that occurred today and the policy of releasing the terrorists: "Two weeks ago, there were five bombs on buses in the center of the country. Today's children don't know what attacks there were here in the past, the country has no memory. In the past, they said that releasing terrorists would only be in exceptional cases, like the Shalit deal, but since then it has become the norm. No one asks the families of the victims, and no one apologizes to us. I take my hat off to the families of the kidnapped, but the leadership needs to both return the kidnapped and protect nine million additional citizens."
The last memory with Tal
Kerman recalls the last day with his daughter: "It was a Monday, just like today. We were at home and dancing – a 17-year-old girl dancing with her father, it was a special moment. After that I took her to the cowboy restaurant, we ate and played with the peanuts. I haven't been back there since. That was the last moment I saw her."
The family was left with the pain.
Tal Kerman left behind two brothers, Dror, who was 12 at the time and is now 33, and a younger sister, Mika, who was born after the attack and is now a 22th grader. "She's doing exactly the same route Tal did. She sent us pictures from the annual trip, it was moving. It's hard to believe that XNUMX years have passed. We're already used to organizing memorials, always making sure that there won't be an overlap between them. We want to continue remembering, but we feel that Tal's memory is fading into history. Everyone is busy with the current war and the kidnapped, no one is addressing the murdered from the past anymore."
"Those murdered from the past are forgotten, it hurts"
Kerman shares his criticism of the official authorities: "Even at the JNF, when they give the opportunity to plant a tree in memory of the fallen of the Iron Swords War, there is no mention of the victims of the attacks from years past. It is painful to see how our history is forgotten."
The attack at the Gulf Central Station reminds everyone that the waves of terror never cease, and that the pain borne by the families of terror victims does not fade with the years. For the bereaved families, every attack is like a return to that terrible day when they lost the most precious thing to them.
What about the attack in Bat Galim in Haifa last year by the terrorist from Tamra in the Galilee who ran over a young man and chased civilians with an axe, who was also mentally ill?
What about the attack by the 15-year-old minority girl from Haifa who stabbed the 47-year-old new immigrant in the Memorial Garden in April 2022? She is also mentally ill.
What about the two attacks in Beersheba last year, one carried out by a resident of Lakia and the other attack by a resident of Rahat, also mentally ill? And the attack in Hadera by a resident of Umm al-Fahm last year, also mentally ill? And yesterday the attack by a resident of Shfaram, also mentally ill?
How long will the left-wing media continue to hype up this imaginary coexistence?
They are so right.
We learned nothing, neither from the rioters then nor from the 7.10/XNUMX massacre. Terrorists are released, murderers, to return to kidnapping and massacre.
The state of legalization – which has lost all logic, deterrence and image towards terrorist attackers. We are shooting ourselves in the foot with the deal demonstrations and today the deal and another round with Hamastan. Disaster.
Moti Hershko and his son were murdered, just because they were Jews, Moti studied with me and we lived nearby, I knew him very well, he was a good, quiet man. I miss him very much. May his memory be blessed….
Mrs. Gila said he was not mentally ill. Someone who is mentally ill does not fly from Germany to Israel, wanders around alone on buses, and miraculously chooses the central bus station to carry out the attack, a pre-planned attack by a cold-hearted terrorist.
One of the bereaved parents said very nicely, "We haven't learned anything. We're still releasing terrorists. But I would suggest that he ask that question to those protesters who have been blocking the Moria highway for a year and a half because they are the ones who are putting pressure on bad deals with Hamas. If the government had the wind to negotiate calmly and without pressure, things would look different. May the memory of those murdered on Route 37 be blessed forever and ever, may God raise up their blood."
Both Tal and Assaf will remain with us forever, as a girl who studied with Assaf and grew up with him in the neighborhood, today as a mother of 3 children who walks with them a lot on Moriah Boulevard near the Burekas, because it is an intersection near the house, always reminding them of all the flowers that were picked prematurely, it is always important to remember them, they were such good children. It is not for nothing that they say that the good ones go first
Michal, the article is completely distorted.
Yesterday's murderer is not a terrorist but a mentally ill person with severe schizophrenia and a treatment record in Germany and Israel that indicates a non-normative perception of reality. In short, a sick person who would not have to roam free if there were organized mental health services here and not crushed by the current government of destruction. Even the existing services are collapsing under the burden of the 7/10 massacre and its consequences.
To link this to the terrible attack on Line 37 is terrible demagogy. The 7/10 massacre and subsequent attacks are the destruction of social resilience due to the dismissive attitude of the government system and the exposure of the military's failures.
It doesn't take one mentally ill person to be shaken. We have been shaken to our core for years: from the regime revolution and the terrible massacre followed by a war that threatens to be renewed because a complete psychopath is at the head of the government and he doesn't care that people are being murdered and killed in the country under his responsibility. He too is refused a diagnosis and hospitalization for the benefit of all of us.
Enough is enough, pull out a knife and slaughter people.
He went through severe incitement in Germany.. I wonder where.
With all the pain, but you are right…
The newspaper's editor simply manipulated Adi's facts to grab a headline...
However, I feel sorry for the murdered man, the victims, and I still feel sorry for those murdered at the time.