Publication: Israel Today
Type: Magazine
Date: March 30, 2009
Country: Israel
Section: Messianic Jews
Title: Still No Suspects in Bombing
Reporter: Nicole Jansezian
Ortiz Bombing Still Unsolved
More than a year after Messianic Jew Amiel Ortiz was nearly killed by a bomb disguised in a Purim gift package, police have still made no arrests. But sources say the bombing may be one of a series of attacks carried out by Orthodox Jewish extremists.
Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld wouldn’t confirm or deny any connection between the Ortiz case and the bomb attack that wounded left-wing Professor Ze’ev Sternhell, an outspoken critic of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria. But David Ortiz, Amiel’s father, told Israel Today that the investigation is pointing toward a religious group that will attack anyone opposed to its ideology.
Amiel, now 16, was nearly killed on March 20, 2008 when he opened the booby-trapped Purim package. He was critically wounded and doctors told David and Leah Ortiz, leaders of the Ariel Messianic congregation, that their son wouldn’t make it. But a year later, Amiel has returned to the basketball court, albeit with much pain and a long road ahead to recovery.
Amiel looked remarkably well when he was featured on Oovda (Fact), a primetime news magazine on Israel’s Channel 2 television. The reporter told David that what “disturbs” him the most is that “your son has forgiven these people. I could not forgive them. Why did your son forgive these criminals, these assassins?”
Ortiz said the failure to solve the case is unacceptable.
“It’s not what the police did, it’s what they didn’t do,” he said. “There has not been a word of condemnation from the Israeli government. With Sternhell, officials went to the hospital. With us, everybody hid.”
The family recounts miracles and the outpouring of support from around the world. “I am filled with pain at the remembrance of that day,” Leah Ortiz wrote in her newsletter. “But we could never have imagined the worldwide impact this incident would have on believers around the world.”
Type: Magazine
Date: March 30, 2009
Country: Israel
Section: Messianic Jews
Title: Still No Suspects in Bombing
Reporter: Nicole Jansezian
Ortiz Bombing Still Unsolved
More than a year after Messianic Jew Amiel Ortiz was nearly killed by a bomb disguised in a Purim gift package, police have still made no arrests. But sources say the bombing may be one of a series of attacks carried out by Orthodox Jewish extremists.
Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld wouldn’t confirm or deny any connection between the Ortiz case and the bomb attack that wounded left-wing Professor Ze’ev Sternhell, an outspoken critic of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria. But David Ortiz, Amiel’s father, told Israel Today that the investigation is pointing toward a religious group that will attack anyone opposed to its ideology.
Amiel, now 16, was nearly killed on March 20, 2008 when he opened the booby-trapped Purim package. He was critically wounded and doctors told David and Leah Ortiz, leaders of the Ariel Messianic congregation, that their son wouldn’t make it. But a year later, Amiel has returned to the basketball court, albeit with much pain and a long road ahead to recovery.
Amiel looked remarkably well when he was featured on Oovda (Fact), a primetime news magazine on Israel’s Channel 2 television. The reporter told David that what “disturbs” him the most is that “your son has forgiven these people. I could not forgive them. Why did your son forgive these criminals, these assassins?”
Ortiz said the failure to solve the case is unacceptable.
“It’s not what the police did, it’s what they didn’t do,” he said. “There has not been a word of condemnation from the Israeli government. With Sternhell, officials went to the hospital. With us, everybody hid.”
The family recounts miracles and the outpouring of support from around the world. “I am filled with pain at the remembrance of that day,” Leah Ortiz wrote in her newsletter. “But we could never have imagined the worldwide impact this incident would have on believers around the world.”