[PHOTOS AND VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

Hundreds of children of bereaved families, who currently participate in the ‘OneFamily’ organization summer camp in the north of Israel, gathered on Sunday evening 11 Tammuz near the border with Syria and Lebanon in order to show their solidarity with the victims of last weekend’s terror attack in Nice, France. The children sang songs and blew up balloons in the colors of the French Flag. Director of the ‘OneFamily’ summer camp explained the goal. “So that everyone will see, even beyond this border, what our true strength is – the power of ‘Together'”.

Around three hundred children participated in the event, who come from various bereaved families from the terror attacks, military operation and wars of the last 15 years. The event took place at the historic ‘Tel Chai’ site in the Galil Panhandle, not far from the border with Lebanon and the Border with Syria.

Chantal Belzberg, director of ‘OneFamily’ and one of the summer camp’s directors has initiated the gesture of solidarity near the border by saying that “Sadly, in the past few days alone, dozens of new families have joined our ‘together’, who suffered losses or saw a family member hurt in the recent terror attack in Nice, France. From here we want to tell them that: We stand by you. We know what you are going through. Your victory and our victory over terror will be done by the growth in spite of the pain. And it comes, amongst other things, through the ‘Togetherness'”.

The entire event, which was held under the mark of “The Power of Together”, included singing done by the children and other artistic performances which took place at the historic site. Na’ama Frenkel (8), little sister of Naftali Frenkel HY”D, who along with a couple of his friends was murdered in 2014, shared her longing to her big brother and her way of coping with the pain. “When I am sad, I talk to Naftali, I pull over, sit and talk to him. I have a notebook where I write to him and tell him about the things that are happening to me. In one of the days I wrote to him saying: ‘Naftali, I miss you. I hope there is nothing missing for you up there. I’m missing you. I want to get to you in heaven, I want to sit by your side and talk with you… With love, until we meet again…”

“Here with the feeling of ‘Togetherness”, it’s not like in school or anywhere else (…) the counselors are like Mom and Dad and also like friends to me. When I am sad, they come sit next to me and talk with me. They feel sad with me but they don’t cry. That helps me, it makes me stronger.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photos: Matan Portnoy & Oren Ohayon)