Shmuel Yerushalmi

June 19, 2002 - Shmuel Yerushalmi, 17, of Shilo, was one of seven people killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a crowded bus stop and hitchhiking post at the French Hill intersection in northern Jerusalem shortly after 7:00 P.M.

The bomber jumped out of a car at the French Hill junction and, as Border Patrolmen on duty at the scene began to approach him, he ran past them toward the crowded bus stop on the eastern side of the road, setting off the bomb he was carrying in a crowd of people. Three Israelis and four others died in hospital. About 50 were wounded by shrapnel that was packed around the explosive, with several in critical and serious condition, including one of the Border Patrolmen who had tried to stop the bomber.

Shmuel Yerushalmi was a student at the yeshiva high school in Itamar, where three students killed on May 28, when a Palestinian gunman infiltrated the community and opened fire on the teenagers. Shmuel, who was unharmed in the attack, delivered a eulogy at the grave of his good friend, Avi Siton.

Shmuel lived in Shilo since the age of one. He was a counseler in the Bnei Akiva youth movement, who could always be relied on if something had to be organized. He had spent the day in Jerusalem to take and exam and visit his grandmother. He was mortally wounded while waiting to catch a bus or a ride home, and died in hospital.

Shmuel Yerushalmi was buried in Shilo. He is survived by his parents, Avraham and Haya, and seven siblings.