Jonathan (Yoni) Jesner
Sept 20, 2002 - Jonathan (Yoni) Jesner, 19, of Glasgow, Scotland was one of six people killed when a suicide terrorist detonated a bomb in Dan bus No. 4 on Allenby Street, opposite the Great Synagogue in Tel-Aviv on September 19. Hamas claimed responsbility for the attack.
The explosion was set off by the suicide bomber shortly before 13:00 PM in the front section of the bus. The bus had been en route from the central bus station to northern Tel Aviv. The bomber apparently boarded the bus at a stop opposite the synagogue and then detonated the device, killing six and wounding about 70. The blast scorched the bus and blew out its windows.
Yoni Jesner, from Glasgow Scotland, was a student at the Har Etzion yeshiva in Gush Etzion. He and his cousin Gideon Black were traveling to a Tel-Aviv hotel to spend the Sukkot holiday with Gideon's father when the suicide bomber boarded the bus. Gideon was moderately injured. Yoni was mortally injured, and died of his wounds the following day. He was named after Yoni Netanyahu, who was killed leading the successful July 4, 1976 Entebbe rescue that saved the lives of 104 hijacked hostages. His family donated his organs for transplant.
"It was your love of Israel and Judaism that brought you here to study and it is here you now rest," his brother Ari Jesner said. "It was your love of mankind that was going to take you to medical school in London with the intention of moving to Israel to work as a doctor. You were also a role model for me, your older brother. You taught me and all the family so much about love, Judaism, compassion, and understanding. In your short life of 19 years you achieved what most people do not achieve in double that time."
What was particularly remarkable, Ari noted, was Yoni's total involvement in all aspects of Jewish life in Scotland. He ran Bnei Akiva, the religious Zionist youth movement, and the Jewish youth council in Scotland and arranged the Jewish youth delegation to the Scottish parliament. In addition, he was a Jewish studies teacher, was involved in the burial society, and helped run the youth and adult services in the synagogue. He recently postponed the start of his medical training in London to continue yeshiva studies for a second year.
Jonathan (Yoni) Jesner was buried in Jerusalem. He is survived by his parents, two brothers and two sisters.