Israel Ya-akov Danino

Dec 1, 2001 - Israel Ya'akov Danino, 17, of Jerusalem, was one of 11 young people killed on Saturday night at the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall in the center of Jerusalem.

At about 11:30 P.M., two suicide bombers detonated explosive devices on Ben Yehuda Street, the pedestrian mall frequented by many young people on Saturday night. A car bomb exploded nearby 20 minutes later. In addition to the 11 people killed, about 180 were injured in the terrorist attack.

Danino, a son of a religious family living in the Har-Nof Jerusalem neighborhood, was the seventh of 10 children. His baby brother, aged 1 1/2, died a few years ago in an accident. Israel Danino left school after ninth grade, and recently began to study for his matriculation exams independently. He was due to enter the army in four months, and wanted to serve in a combat unit.

Although he didn't go out much these days, Israel went out with his friends Saturday night to the Ben Yehuda mall. A close friend of Israel's talked of his last moments: "He met a friend, stopped to talk with him and suddenly we heard the first explosion. I started running away from the area, I thought he was running alongside me. I shouted, "Ya'akov! Ya'akov!" The there was a second explosion, and he was hit."

His bother-in-law, Nati said that after he was getting away a bit from religion, he started wearing a 'kipa' again and told his sister that he had a feeling something bad was going to happen to him.

Israel Ya'akov Danino was buried in the Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem. He is survived by his parents and eight siblings.