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Aid to Reach Non-Jewish Victim of Burgas Bombing

Jewish Agency for Israel to send aid to family of Mustafa Kyosov

by
Adam Chandler
August 29, 2012
(Getty)
(Getty)

There are no silver linings to be culled from the last month’s appalling attack on a bus of tourists in Burgas, Bulgaria, that took the lives of five Israelis and wounded many others. Moreover, the ironclad proof needed to indict those responsible has also remained troublingly elusive, although Israeli and U.S. officials maintain that Iran and Hezbollah had a hand in the attack.

Despite this, there is an aspect of this story that seems worthy of note. The family of Mustafa Kyosov, the driver of the bus who was also killed in the blast, has been included in the list of recipients receiving aid from Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI). The efforts to include Kyosov, a Bulgarian Muslim, in the aid package from JAFI’s Fund for the Victims of Terror is a gesture that, despite the unspeakable occasion, is important. Speaking at a ceremony in Sofia, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon said:

“Every victim represents an entire world, a life story cut short, dreams that will not be fulfilled.”



“Terrorism does not distinguish between blood and blood, and from person to person. Killers try to reach any place in the world to attack innocent Jews and Israelis, and would not hesitate to kill anyone who stood in their way when they implement their actions.”

Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.