(JTA) — A soccer club in England held a moment of silence in memory of the British woman stabbed to death in an attack on the Jerusalem light rail.
Hannah Bladon, who was killed in the stabbing attack on Friday, was an ardent fan of the Derby County soccer club. The club called for a moment of silence on Monday night before its match against Huddersfield Town on Monday evening, the Times of Israel reported. Thousands of fans observed the moment of silence, while players from both teams stood with arms linked and heads bowed in the middle of the field.
Bladon, who was in her early 20s, was in Israel as part of a student exchange program with Hebrew as part of her course of studies in religion, theology and archaeology at the University of Birmingham. She arrived in Israel in January.
She reportedly was returning home from an archeological dig when she was killed.
Israel’s Channel 2 reported on Saturday that Bladon was standing next to the assailant because she had given up her seat further back on the train to allow a woman holding a baby to sit down.
The Palestinian stabber, Jamil Tamimi, 57, of the Ras al-Amud neighborhood of eastern Jerusalem, reportedly told investigators that he stabbed Bladon because he wanted the soldier standing next to her to kill him. Tamimi reportedly is mentally ill and had recently tried to commit suicide.
