Perla Hermele

Mar 27, 2002 - Perla Hermele, 79, of Sweden was one of 28 people killed in a suicide bombing in the Park Hotel in the coastal city of Netanya, in the midst of the Passover holiday seder.

On the eve of Passover, the terrorist walked into the dining room of the hotel, located in the center of Netanya, where 250 guests had just sat down to begin the seder. He detonated an explosive device, killing 22 immediately and injuring 140, six of whom died later. The bomber was identified as a member of the Hamas Iz a Din al-Kassam Brigades, from the West Bank city of Tulkarem, which is just 10 kilometers (six miles) east of Netanya. He was on the list of wanted terrorists Israel had

Perla was born in Poland. In the early 1930s, her family moved to Sweden where she was married and gave birth to two sons. Perla was active in the Jewish community in Stockholm, both in Keren Hayesod and the Jewish Agency.

For 25 years, Perla has been coming to Israel to celebrate the seder, even after her husband passed away six years ago. This year she came with two friends. She preferred to stay in Netanya because of its proximity to Beit Yitzhak where members of her husband's family lived. Perla was killed in the blast; her friends were slightly injured.

Just before the seder, she spoke with her younger son by phone, saying "I know it is dangerous in Israel but it is precisely at such times that it is so important to be here."

Perla Hermele was buried in Sweden. She leaves behind two sons - Kenneth, 53, and Bernt, 48 - six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.