Admiral (res.) Ze'ev Almog

Oct 4, 2003 - Admiral (res.) Ze'ev Almog, 71, of Haifa was one of 19 people killed in a suicide bombing carried out by a female terrorist from Jenin in the Maxim restaurant in Haifa. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.

The blast devastated the restaurant, of joint Jewish-Arab ownership, on Hahagana Boulevard near the southern entrance of the coastal city. It was packed mostly with regular Saturday customers. The bomber, Hanadi Jaradat, a 29-year-old lawyer from Jenin, managed to get past Maxim's security guard before blowing herself up in the middle of the restaurant. The security guard, an Israeli Arab, was killed in the attack, along with three other Israeli Arab employees of the restaurant. The victims included five members of the Almog family from Haifa and five members of the Zer-Aviv family from Kibbutz Yagur. Four children were killed and 60 people were wounded in the bombing.

Ze'ev Almog (Avrutzky) and his wife Ruth had gone to the beach with their family and then went to Maxim for lunch. They were killed along with their son, Moshe, and grandsons, Tomer and Assaf. Daughter Galit, daughter-in-law Orly, and two other grandchildren were wounded in the blast.

Ze'ev Almog was a former commander of the Israel Navy (1979-1985) and served as long-time commander of the naval officers' training school in Acre. One of the first members of the Israel Navy, Almog was instrumental in bringing the first submarines to Israel. Ze'ev and Ruth met each other during their military service. They married in 1954 and had three children.

Almog was "a great man," said his nephew, Rotem Avrutsky. "When I got my sailing license, the first thing he taught me was rescue. He was a wonderful man, a man who loved other people, with a lovely sense of humor." Some three weeks ago, the Avrutzky family, a clan that numbered 184 individuals prior to the Maxim bombing, celebrated a family gathering in Kfar Sava. Ze'ev Almog, one of the heads of the family, delivered an emotional address at the event: "I have outlived all my brothers, and I am thankful for my lot, because it's impossible to know what awaits us at every corner."

Admiral (res.) Ze'ev Almog was buried in Haifa alongside the other four members of his family killed in the explosion. He is survived by his daughters, Galit and Iris, as well as his grandchildren Omri, 14, Oren, 9, Adi, 6, Niv and Elad.