Clara Rosenberger

June 25, 2003 - Clara Rosenberger, 77, of Jerusalem was one of 30 people killed in a suicide bombing in the Park Hotel in the coastal city of Netanya, in the midst of the Passover holiday seder on March 27, 2002.

On the eve of Passover, the terrorist walked into the dining room of the hotel, located in the center of Netanya, where 250 guests had just sat down to begin the seder. He detonated an explosive device, killing 22 immediately and injuring 140, eight of whom subsequently died. The bomber was identified as a member of the Hamas Iz a Din al-Kassam Brigades, from the West Bank city of Tulkarem, which is just 10 kilometers (six miles) east of Netanya. He was on the list of wanted terrorists Israel had requested be arrested.

Clara Rosenberger, who had gone to the hotel to spend the holiday with several of her friends, suffered a spinal injury in the blast and remained completely paralysed. After extensive treatment in hospital, she was moved to the Nofe Gilo old age home in Jerusalem. An independent and active women, she became deeply depressed and lost her will to live. She stopped eating, did not want to see family and friends, and cut herself off from the world, refusing psychological help. She passed away on June 25, 2003.

Clara was born in Czechoslavakia. At the age of 19 she was transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where her father perished. She and her mother survived and were released a year later and subsequently immigrated to Israel.

Clara Rosenberger was buried in Jerusalem. She is survived by her son Reuven, her daughter Rahel, and seven grandchildren.