Esther (Etti) Bablar

May 7, 2002 - Esther Bablar, 54, of Bat Yam was one of 15 people killed when a suicide bomber detonated a powerful charge in a game club located on the 3rd floor of a building in Rishon Lezion, causing part of the building to collapse. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

At about 11:00 PM, the terrorist entered the unlicensed Sheffield Club with a suitcase of explosives, spiked with shrapnels and nails to cause maximum injury. The patrons were trying their luck at slot machines, card games or snooker. 15 were killed, and 55 wounded in the blast.

Esther (Etti) and Yitzhak Bablar were childhood sweethearts. They met in their teens and went out for two years. They parted when Etti moved with her parents to the US. Each married and had children.

Seven years ago, when Etti heard that Yitzhak had divorced his first wife, she came to Israel to see him, went home to divorce her first husband, and came back to marry Yitzhak. Yitzhak's daughter, Tali, said, "They loved each other very much and had loved each all these years." Friends described their love like "Romeo and Juliet".

Etti had just returned from a visit to her children in the US. The couple had gone out to dinner and then stopped at the Sheffield Club. Yitzhak was killed instantly. Etti died the next morning.

Esther Bablar was buried alongside her husband Yitzhak in Holon. She is survived by three children from her former marriage.