Funeral rites were held here Tuesday for two victims of the Istanbul synagogue massacre on Saturday, Mirza Babtzada and Raphael Nissimia. Both were Israeli citizens who had been on business visits to Turkey.
Sephardic Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliahu and Religious Affairs Minister Dr. Yosef Burg attended Babtzada’s interment, and Ministers Yitzhak Peretz and Moshe Katzav were present at the burial of Nissimia. In graveside remarks, Burg spoke of “revenge as consolation,” seeming to foreshadow an Israeli reprisal against the terrorists.
Contrary to Monday’s reports, Burg will not attend the funeral of the other victims in Istanbul Wednesday. Both Israeli and Turkish sources have confirmed that the government in Ankara sought to avoid an Israeli political figure representing the Jewish State. Israel has accepted this without public comment, and Rabbi Eliahu will go in Burg’s stead.
Families of the two Israeli victims recounted bureaucratic difficulties in arranging the victims’ transfer to Israel for burial. Eventually, they chartered a private plane to bring the bodies.
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