The Editors
Time Magazine
My 15 year-old daughter Malki was the last person to be identified
among those murdered in the Jerusalem pizza shop bombing last Thursday.
My family and I got up yesterday from the seven-day mourning period. I
thought nothing could distract me from my overwhelming grief. But then
someone read me the headline of TIME's August 20th article about the
bombing "A suicide bomber's desperate final act sparks another
round of retaliation".
Don't you see that you are glorifying the act that took my precious
15 year old daughter? This is unforgivable. What happened was barbarism,
pure and simple. To think of it in any other way is to give it meaning.
This must never be allowed to happen.
Malki was a loving, generous angel of a girl, the one you say
"had just zipped a cell-phone text message to a friend".
Yesterday her older brothers collected some of her personal belongings
from the police. Among them was her cell-phone in its protective pouch,
inside of which was the ugly nail which evidently formed part of that
"desperate final act" and which had completely shredded the
pouch. Written on the phone mouthpiece in Malki's tiny writing was a
Halachic reminder to herself "Never speak badly of anyone".
(In Hebrew Asur ledaber lashon hara.)
Malki's life was filled with acts of helping others, including her
own profoundly handicapped 6 year old sister, and other children with
special needs. In addition, she adored the challenge and responsibility
of being a youth leader, a role she took up only eight months ago. To
her many close friends who sobbed uncontrollably at her funeral and to
me, her mother to whom she was much more than a daughter, Malki's loss
is not measurable, not bearable. She was my friend, the sister that I
never had, my confidant, the main source of support for me in caring for
our youngest child.
I wish you would first consider the pain caused by such reporting
before giving suicidal fanatics their moment of glory.
Sincerely,
Frimet Roth
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