Smadar Firstater

March 5, 2003 - Smadar Firstater, 16, of Haifa, was one of 17 people killed in a suicide bombing of an Egged bus on Moriah Boulevard in the Carmel section of Haifa.

The bus was traveling on the city's main Moriah Boulevard near the Carmel Center, on the way to Haifa University, when the blast turned the bus into a charred wreck and scattered bodies along the road. The suicide bomber, who had boarded the bus, had the bomb strapped to his body, laden with metal shrapnel in order to maximize the number of injuries. A total of 17 people were killed and 53 injured.

Smadar Firstater, an 11th grade student majoring in art at the WIZO High School, dreamed of continuing her studies in New York and becoming an artist. She was standing at the back door of the bus, about to get off, when she was killed. Her parents heard the blast from their home nearby.

Relatives described Smadar as a gentle, caring and very sensitive girl. She was deeply moved by the Columbia shuttle disaster and identified with Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon - "a person who succeeding in fulfilling his dream," said her aunt Shulamit Tamir. Her parents usually insisted that she take a taxi, but on the day she was killed allowed her to take the bus.

Smadar Firstater was buried in Haifa. She is survived by her parents, Benny and Esther, and an older brother, Avishai, in the army.