Naftali Lanzkorn

Mar 28, 2001 - Naftali Lanzkorn, 13, of Petah Tikva was killed in a suicide bombing at the Mifgash Hashalom ("peace stop") gas station east of Kfar Saba.

Naftali was a student at the "Bnei Hayil" yeshiva in Kedumim in Samaria. The school for junior high and high school boys was established three years ago to provide a framework for pupils suffering from attention deficit disorders (ADD) who have difficulty coping in a regular framework. He and some of his fellow students would wait near the gas station every morning for the bulletproof bus that took them to school.

On Wednesday morning, the suicide bomber positioned himself among the group of teenage boys in the parking lot and then blew himself up. Naftali Lanzkorn was killed along with Eliran Rosenberg-Zayat. Four of their fellow students were injured.

Math teacher Efrat Velner related that Naftali was loved by pupils and teachers alike. "He was very mature for his age, he was concerned as to whether we would succeed in completing the required learning material by the end of the year. He often used to talk about trips he planned to take with his family. I really enjoyed teaching him," she said.

Naftali Lanzkorn, who loved basketball, celebrated his Bar-Mitzva only two months ago. He was the youngest child of 10 of a family that immigrated to Israel from Britain in the early 1970s. His father said that on his way to school, the boy told him he thought there would be a bombing yesterday morning.

Naftali Lanzkorn was buried in Petah Tikva.