A cousin of Yoni Jesner, the Scottish teenager murdered in a Tel Aviv suicide bombing in 2002, has condemned the release of the Hamas terrorist responsible for the attack as part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Ashraf Zughayer, who coordinated the bombing that killed six people, including 19-year-old Jesner, was freed on 25 January after serving just 22 years of six life sentences.
He drove the suicide bomber from East Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, dropping him at the Allenby Street bus stop moments before the attack that killed Jesner and injured his cousin, Rabbi Gideon Black.
Zughayer’s return to East Jerusalem was met with a hero’s welcome – he was paraded through the streets on a white Toyota pickup, draped in Hamas flags as crowds cheered.
Yoni Jesner with his mother Marsha Gladstone, Credit Yoni Jesner Foundation.
In a moving column for The Free Press, headlined ‘The Terrorist Who Murdered My Cousin Now Walks Free’, Rabbi Gideon Black, who narrowly survived the bus bombing, shared his anguish at witnessing the mass murderer walk free in exchange for Israeli hostages abducted by Hamas on 7 October 2023.
He writes: “More than two decades later, emotional scarring from that bombing – which I survived by the slightest margin – is still etched into my soul. So are the physical scars on my torso… Time, it turns out, does not heal all wounds… The freeing of the man responsible for that attack cuts at the scar tissue and forces me and every other Israeli into an impossible corner.”
Reflecting on the 2002 attack, Rabbi Black recalls: “The moments after the explosion are still vivid in my mind –the shattered glass, the heap of skinless bodies at the front of the bus, the few silent seconds as an aura of death hung in the air before it gave way to piercing sirens and screams. Most of all I remember Yoni, in life so strong and brave, on the floor next to me with a mortal head wound. The first paramedic to treat us on the sidewalk cried out to Yoni, “Al tamut, al tamut!” (‘Don’t die, don’t die!’)”
The Israeli hostage/Hamas prisoner swap has reignited fierce debate in Israel over the risks of releasing convicted terrorists. Rabbi Black acknowledged this dilemma, stating: “We must move mountains to bring them home, even as we fear that those very mountains may bury our loved ones in the future.”
Rabbi Black’s fears are not unfounded. The 2011 Gilad Shalit deal saw the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners – including Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who orchestrated the 7 October massacre.
“We dare not leave the hostages in Gaza,” Black warned. “We dare not free the terrorists and endanger our people for years to come. Truly, a deal with the devil.”
Yoni Jesner and his family saved the lives of four people by donating his organs following his death, including a Palestinian girl who received Yoni’s kidney.
