Ilan Perlman

Nov 21, 2002 - Ilan Perlman, 8, of Jerusalem, was one of 11 people killed in a suicide bombing on a No. 20 Egged bus in the Kiryat Menahem neighborhood of Jerusalem.

The bomber, wearing a five-kilogram bomb belt packed with explosives and shrapnel, boarded the bus at approximately 7:00 A.M. on Mexico street in Kiryat Menahem. Before it reached the next stop, the terrorist, who was standing in the front section of the bus, set off the bomb, killing 11 people and wounding about 50.

Ilan lived in Jerusalem's Ir Ganim neighborhood with his mother Galia, his older brother Sinai, his grandmother and greatgrandmother. His parents are divorced.

The Perlman family had immigrated to Israel from the Ukraine in 1990. From the day Ilan was born in 1994, he and his grandmother, Kira Perlman, were inseparable. After his parents were divorced, his grandmother assumed the role of raising him so that his mother Galia could concentrate on her job at the supermarket. Kira, who accompanied her grandson Ilan everywhere, was taking him to school when they were killed on the bus together.

Ilan attended third grade at the David Stone school in Kiryat Hayovel. Considered one of the brightest students in his class, though shy, he always insisted on speaking Hebrew and would converse in Russian only with Kira. He would also read the Hebrew-language daily Yediot Aharonot every day. Ilan recently participated in a karate competition and was declared national champion for his age group. He was also an avid fan of the Maccabi Haifa soccer club and could recite the biographies of all its players.

Tammi Davlas, Galia's best friend, said, "Grandma Kira's soul is now watching over hir little grandson up there in heaven."

Ilan Perlman was buried together with his grandmother Kira in the Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem. He is survived by his mother Galia, his father Yigal, his brother Sinai, 15, and his greatgrandmother Jenya, 90.