Personal Plea for Peace

Six Israeli teenagers who survived a suicide bombing as they boarded their bus for school visited Los Angeles on Thursday to warn others about the dangers of bigotry and help the Anti-Defamation League launch a new ad campaign against discrimination.

“We have to carry on. We should stop all this hatred,” said Sivan Horesh, a 14-year-old from Tel Aviv who escaped injury in an October 1994 bombing attack only because she had run to the back of the bus to pick up a dropped necklace.

The youths, some still recovering from the attack 18 months ago--chillingly similar to a recent spate of four terrorist bombings that have claimed the lives of 62 people--were joined at a City Hall press conference by three local high school students who visited the teenagers in Israel last year as part of an exchange program.

“They are here to remind us of the human cost of terror,” David A. Lehrer, regional director of the ADL, said of the Israeli youths. “Israelis hate terrorism wherever it takes place.”

The ADL public service announcement features Jason Alexander, co-star of the sitcom “Seinfeld,” explaining, “It’s time to stop the hate. It’s time to give our children a more compassionate world.” The message is intercut with pictures of neo-Nazis and other hate groups.

The campaign comes as the number of hate crimes in Los Angeles County nearly doubled in 1995, from 68 to 121, according to the ADL. The San Fernando Valley had the most hate crimes of any area with 10, an increase of 53% over 1994. California ranks second in the nation in the number of these types of incidents.

“We must unite to preach tolerance, compassion and respect,” said Mayor Richard Riordan.

After visiting Los Angeles, the Israeli youths will travel to Oklahoma City to talk with young survivors of the April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City bombing and their families about their road to recovery after that terrorist attack.

“What happened to them, happened to us,” said Meital Yona, a 15-year-old from Afula, Israel, who still suffers episodes of pain because of her wounds.

Tal Peretz, 15, said he hopes to reassure those who have suffered like him that their lives can return to normal. Peretz was waiting for the bus when he saw a blue car pull in front and then explode, setting his face and hair on fire. He endured nine operations and must take medication in order to sleep.

Marjorie B. Green, the ADL’s director of education, explained that the Israelis are meeting with young people because “teens hear teens with much more credence than anyone else.”

Karen Ann Cimagala, 16, a sophomore at the Downtown Business Magnet School, who traveled to Israel to meet the six teenagers last year, said the trip changed her perception of foreign cultures. “We learned that stereotypes break down,” she said, adding that her Israeli counterparts shared many of the same interests, including a love of MTV.

The Los Angeles students went to Israel as participants in a program called “Children of the Dream,” which takes inner-city youths from schools in Los Angeles and six other U.S. cities and pairs them with Jewish and Arab teens from the Middle East in an effort to create a bridge between people of different races and religions.

“You can’t judge someone by their color,” said Gerson Ramirez, 17, a senior at the magnet school. He said he was moved by what the Israeli youths had overcome and the pain they endured--and it inspired him. “If you really try, you can gain peace,” he said.