May 7, 2008 / 2 Iyar 5768

The Chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive, Zeev Bielski lights a memorial flame together with Lisa and Ilse Klinghoffer, the daughters of the late Leon Klinghoffer, who was murdered by terrorists on board the ship "Achille Lauro". The lighting of the memorial torch occurred during the course of a ceremony conducted by the Jewish Agency commemorating the memory of Jews murdered in terror attacks or in anti Semitic incidents worldwide.

As part of the commemoration of Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror, a special ceremony took place outside the National Institutions building in Jerusalem on Wednesday, May 7th 2008, commemorating those who have been killed in terror attacks and anti-semitic incidents in various places around the world in addition to commemorating the soldiers who have died in Israel's wars and the victims of terror attacks in Israel. A memorial was put up containing the names of people killed in terror attacks in various places outside of Israel.

According to Jewish Agency data, around 200 Jews have been killed in terror attacks around the world.

The ceremony was organized by the Jewish Agency, the World Zionist Organization, in cooperation with the Jewish National Found, Keren Hayesod and the United Jewish Communities.

In honor of the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel, the Jewish Agency invited the daughters of the late Leon Klinghoffer – Lisa and Ilsa from New York – to come to Israel and light the torch in memory of those killed. Their wheelchair-bound father was ruthlessly killed by Palestinian terrorists on October 8th 1985 while on a Mediterranean cruise on the Achille Lauro luxury cruise ship and his body tossed into the sea.

Klinghoffer's daughters accompanied the Chairman of the Jewish Agency, Zeev Bielski, at the Memorial Day services on Mt. Herzl and will also attend the 60th Independence Day opening ceremony. They will also be hosted by the American ambassador Richard Jones in the framework of an event organized by the Anti-Defamation League in honor of their parents, and they will visit the Rambam Hospital in Haifa to see a garden planted in memory of their father.