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Dear Mr.
Netanyahu,
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First of all, Shana Tova.
I am writing this in response to your interview with Arutz
7, in which you stated that it wasn't clear who the perpetrators were in
the Sternhell case. (my
note, the professor who was injured by a pipe bomb planted in the doorway
of his house). My name is Leah Ortiz, I am the mother of Ami Ortiz,
15 years old, who was critically injured
by a bomb hidden in a mishloach manot Purim package that was delivered to our door on
Purim eve this year, 20/3/2008. Our case
has been extensively publicized outside of Israel,
but inconceivably not here in Israel. Why?
Because this attack was also ideologically motivated. We are
Messianic Jews, and the perpetrators of this attack thought that our
faith was worthy of murder.
Why no one in government mentions the bombing which took place in our
home as an example of such attacks, why the
police want to push the attack under the rug, and pass it off as a red
light - is beyond my comprehension.
On March 20th, my son arrived at the hospital in danger of his
life. He sustained 2nd and third degree burns over a large part of
his body, lost parts of 3 toes, has 100 pieces of shrapnel still in his
body including his lungs - had glass and metal in his eyes, which by a
miracle hasn't blinded him. He spent 2 months in Schneider hospital
and 3 months in Sheba
in Pediatric rehabilitation. He still is an outpatient there twice
a week, and is trying to juggle that with school, and the constant pain that
he is in as a result of severe nerve damage to his hands and arms.
He doesn't have full use of his hands yet. He has undergone
numerous operations, and still has 3 or 4 ahead of him, including grafts
to his eardrums which were blown out by the blast, and plastic surgery to
his mangled left foot.
The bottom floor of our home was destroyed by the blast, 12 windows were
blown out (upstairs and downstairs), and even the cars parked on the
street below (we're on the 3rd floor) were damaged by the pressure of the
blast and flying glass.
No one has been apprehended by the police up to this point. We do not
want revenge, as we don't want to lower ourselves to the same level as
the perpetrators, and we have forgiven them, because they are deranged
people in need of help. However, maybe now that Prof. Sternhell was targeted, we will see some
justice. Maybe.
My son Ami doesn't understand why the incident that nearly took his life
and has scarred him for life hasn't been acknowledged by the government,
as the Prime Minister and every other minister have publicly decried the
attack against Prof. Sternhell, and this is
right. We, however, did not receive
one phone call or visit from a government official. Is
the professor's life more valuable than the life of our son's? I
would like to say that Ron Nachman (mayor of
Ariel) did visit us in the hospital, called us, and is accessible if we
want to talk to him.
Our case has been treated, I can only say it
this way, in an unprofessional manner. My heart breaks as a mother
for my son whose life has been violated by people who believe they are
doing God a favor to murder those whose philosophies, ideologies, or
faith doesn't conform to their twisted version of right and wrong.
I am asking for recognition of our case by the government for the sake of Ami. To the hundreds of
thousands of Messianic Jews in the West, and to hundreds of thousands of evangelicals all over the world,
his name has become a household word. We have received several
thousand postcards from every continent of the world, even as far away as
southeast Asia, wishing Ami a speedy recovery. His case has been
covered by AP, and the article was picked up by every major newspaper in
the English speaking world. Channel 1 also did a piece on the case which
was viewed by many in Israel,
especially because the police tried to stop it from being shown twice in
the courts. They were overruled, and we have posted it on
Youtube.com. Just type in Ami Ortiz Israel.
Human rights lawyers from Washington and
Canada
are representing Ami's case to their governments. We were told by an human rights lawyer in Washington
that there are those in the U.S. Congress and the
Senate that are very disturbed over the
case. Ami's name is known on Capitol Hill.
The fact that Israel
is publicly trying to ignore our case is not wise, and could cause
trouble in relations between supporters of Israel
and the government of Israel.
Neither we nor Ami want this to happen.
You are invited to our home to meet Ami.
Yours truly,
Leah Ortiz
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