Keren Malki, the Malki Foundation, a non-political, non-sectarian, not-for-profit organization honors the tragically short life of a girl dedicated to bringing happiness and support into the lives of special-needs children

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What Happened Was Barbarism

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

Original Publication Date: 9/17/2001

This letter was published in an edited form in the September 17, 2001 edition of TIME Magazine.

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