Since the beginning of Intifada Two, terror has been an everyday phenomenon in Israel. So — why this book on Dolphinarium?

It is important because this is the first focused terrorist act — aimed specifically at a given community. And specifically at children. Those who sent the suicide bomber had not picked the target at random: they knew that Friday nights the disco was a gathering place for “Russian” children. Hence, their task was to intimidate the Russian community — to force Russian Jews to stay in Russia. To stop the aliya.

As you read this book — the testimony of the parents who lost their children and of the children themselves, maimed by the bombing — you will see that the terror has, in fact, achieved the result opposite to the one intended. Now the “Russians” are not leaving; now it is the blood of their children that ties them to the land of their forefathers.

The survivors of the bombing are so young — and they have already encountered death. Yet they are dedicated to pursuing their lives; they are determined to combat evil and prevent the triumph of terror. They refuse to let fear fill their hearts; they refuse to buckle down, to give up their dreams and their principles. This modest heroism deserves to be known.

The testimony in this book will break your heart. But it will also instill confidence: terror will not prevail, either in Israel or in the United States, or elsewhere. Ordinary people, devastated by the grief of losing their children are more powerful than the fanatics who blow themselves up for the sake of the “paradise” they have been promised.

Solidarity rooted in grief is more powerful than one rooted in faith. People joined in their humanity — basic moral laws that proscribe deliberate murder of the innocent — will triumph over the madmen who betrayed humanity for the sake of their ideology.

The will to live is more powerful than the will to kill. This is why we will win.

Michael Cherney