Memorial Service Held For Israeli Teens
HALLANDALE BEACH (CBSMiami) - The South Florida Jewish community is in mourning Monday night after the deaths of three kidnapped teenagers in Israel.
The government of Israel has promised to retaliate for the killings, but at a memorial service in Hallandale Beach, a local rabbi asked Jews all over South Florida to respond with kindness.
"With all the sorrow, which is horrific, and the mourning, we have to rebuild," said Rabbi Raphael Tennenhaus of the Jewish Federation of Broward. "We have to add light when there's darkness. When there's sorrow, we have to transform that sorrow to positive action."
The rabbi called on Jews in southern Florida to be extra kind to each other and to find young Jews to share their Jewish traditions.
"When the Jewish people are crushed, they rise to the occasion," said Tennenhaus.
Israel's response won't just be a spiritual one. The government of Israel promises Hamas, the organization behind the Palestinian authority, won't get away with this. Israel's representative to Florida echoed that.
"They are members of the Hamas terrorist organization, and the Hamas will pay," said Chime Sachem, the Consul General of Israel to Florida.
The three teens were kidnapped on their way home from a religious school. They were hitch-hiking. More than two weeks after they went missing, their bodies were discovered. They'd been shot.
"They apparently were murdered in cold blood soon after they were abducted," said Sachem.
The Israeli consul wouldn't go into specifics about what military action Israel will take. There's no telling if this could lead to a larger conflict the United States might have to get involved in.
"The United States and Israel are very close allies," said Sachem. "We have a special relationship based on the commonality based on our view of what the world should be like."
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