LOTL..
03 February '15..
“What can a man do when his child is a victim of terrorism?” asked veteran BBC presenter Roger Phillips in March 2014 [link], at the beginning of his interview with Arnold Roth on BBC’s program, “Daybreak with Helen Jones.”
Born in Melbourne, Australia, Malka Chana Roth, or Malki, was just 15 years old when her life was barbarically and senselessly cut short. On a beautiful summer’s day in August 2001, Malki and her lifelong friend Michal had stopped in to get something to eat at the immensely popular Sbarro’s Pizza shop on Yaffo Street in the heart of Jerusalem.
While Malki and Michal were in the restaurant, filled with customers – many of whom were mothers with children – a young Palestinian Arab man carrying a guitar case entered the restaurant. He had been accompanied by a young woman with a camera and they spoke in English so as not to arouse any suspicion.
Inside the guitar case was a bomb. The resulting explosion killed 15 people and injured some 130 others, many severely. Most of the people who died were children, including Malki and Michal. The male terrorist died in the attack. The woman fled the scene before the explosion, according to plan, and survived.
Ahlam Tamimi, the mastermind of the massacre, was 21 years old at the time of the bombing . A Jordanian national living in Ramallah, she was apparently the first woman recruited by Hamas’ Izzadine el-Qassam group. She has never expressed remorse of any kind for the murders. Although she was arrested a month following the attack and then sentenced by an Israeli court two years later to fifteen life terms, Tamimi was released from prison as part of the Shalit prisoner exchange in October 2011. Apparently, today she lives as a celebrity and heroine in Jordan.
After a devastating event like the death of a child at the hands of a terrorist, it would be easy to let the grief just take over one’s life. But for Arnold and Frimet, that would just be allowing the terrorists to win. So they channeled the pain into a project that would not only help thousands of people, but give honor to the beautiful soul of the daughter they lost.
Malki was not only a caring, vivacious, talented and musical young woman, but she was deeply devoted to doing everything in her power to help children with disabilities. So, what better way to honor her life than to create a foundation that assists families with disabled children?
And so, Keren Malki [www.kerenmalki.org] was born. Keren Malki’s mission is based around the idea that there is no better place for a child with special needs than that child's own home. The programs it provides enables families of severely handicapped children in Israel to receive home care and keep the family intact.
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