Bombing Victims' Families Recover after Tragic Hamas Suicide Attack on Netanya's Park Hote

On March 27th, 2002, a Hamas suicide bomber detonated his explosives in the dining room of the Park Hotel during a Passover Seder. Over 250 guests were gathered in the room, and the terror attack killed 30 people and injured 140 more. The hotel's security staff had not stopped the bomber because he was dressed as a woman and wore a dress, makeup, and a blonde wig. Underneath his dress, the terrorist was wearing a belt of explosives laced with shrapnel. The attack was devastating for the Jewish families which had come to celebrate, and ten years later, JN1 interviewed the victims' relatives.

Corinne Hamami is now a manager at the Park Hotel where she lost her husband, Amiram Hamami, in the bombing. Her reserved demeanor hides the fact that this place holds horrifying memories. Ami was the manager on duty at the hotel during the Seder, and the couple's six children were all at the hotel with their father. Corinne found all of her children were safe after the explosion, but Ami was found unconscious and severely injured in the dining room. He died two days later from shrapnel wounds.

Dalia Karim also lost loved ones in the bombing. Her mother Dvora and her father Michael both died in the attack. Dalia had wanted to join her parents for the Seder, but changed plans at the last minute to have dinner with her fiancé. When she heard of the bombing, she rushed from one hospital to the next hoping to find her parents, but at 5:00 AM, she was called from the morgue to identify the bodies. She collapsed when she saw their faces, and those images still haunt her today. She says she tries to think of good times instead -- about a couple from Iran who embraced Netanya's community, but the psychological consequences have been severe.

After a wave of similar attacks, Marc Belzberg and his wife Chantal established One Family, a non-profit group which seeks to provide victims with medical treatment, counseling, vocational training, living assistance, and children's camps. Over the past ten years, One Family has raised 35 million USD to care for victims. One of their social workers, Batia Weinberg, cares for Dalia Karim. She calls and visits Dalia regularly and even helped her find a job. And Corinne Hamami says the children's camps have given her kids an important place to talk about their trauma and hardship.

Dalia and Corinne have each found ways to remember the ones they lost. For ten years, Dalia has kept a candle burning for each parent. She is also moving forward with her life, and she is now very active in her parents' community in Netanya. Corinne has continued her husband's work to keep the Park Hotel open. The dining room has been rebuilt, and she created a memorial in the hotel lobby in memory of Ami. With the support of their communities, both women have been able to reclaim a sense of normality in their lives after such terrible tragedy.