Yehuda Haim

Feb 22, 2004 - Yehuda Haim, 47, of Jerusalem was one of eight persons murdered and more than 60 wounded by a Palestinian suicide bomber on a No. 14A Egged bus opposite the capital's Liberty Bell Park.

The attack took place at about 8:30 a.m. as the crowded, rush-hour bus was making its way downtown. The Fatah Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack, which was carried out by Muhammad Za'ul, from the Bethlehem area. He had boarded the bus undetected and was overlooked by two security inspectors who boarded after him and alighted before he detonated the explosives he was carrying in a backback.

Yehuda Haim was co-owner of a popular downtown grocery store founded by his parents when they immigrated from Iran nearly 60 years ago. Not a regular bus passenger, he had dropped off his wife's car at a garage and was riding to work when he was murdered.

Haim was a disabled veteran who had undergone four operations since being wounded in Lebanon. He suffered from constant back pain, noted his brother-in-law, Baruch Almog, "but was an industrious man who got up early every morning to open the grocery."

"In the snow or rain, the grocery was always open," recalled a friend. "And it didn't only have merchandise -- whoever came to shop also received a heaping portion of good cheer: Yehuda and his brother, Shimon, loved to tell stories and to laugh. Many customers would leave there with a smile." Coincidentally, on the day of the attack Haim's sister, Shoshi Yosef, was at her job in the Israeli Embassy in The Hague, working in the diplomatic struggle to defend Israel's anti-terrorist security fence.

Yehuda Haim was buried in Jerusalem. He is survived by his wife and three children, Moran, 19, Hanan, 16, and Avner, 10, and eight siblings.