Family’s anguish over student killed in Israel
TRIBUTES HAVE been paid to Hannah Bladon, the 20-year-old British woman who was murdered in Jerusalem on Friday.
The Birmingham University theology and archaeology student, who was on an exchange programme in Israel at the Hebrew University, was stabbed in an attack on Jerusalem’s light railway. A 30-year-old pregnant woman and a 50-year-old man were also wounded in the attack.
Israeli Ambulance service paramedics gave her CPR at the scene but were unable to save her life.
In a statement released by the Foreign Office, Ms Bladon’s family in Burton-on-Trent said they were “devastated by this senseless and tragic attack”.
Hannah was “the most caring, sensitive and compassionate daughter you could ever wish for”, they said. She was “a talented musician, part of a serving team at her local church and a member of her local archaeology group.”
The Hebrew University and the Rothberg International School, where she had been enrolled, expressed their “deep sorrow” over her death.
The university condemned “such acts of terror that harm innocent people, and especially a student who came to Jerusalem to study and widen her academic horizons”.
One of Ms Bladon’s tutors in Israel, Rona Evyasaf, wrote on Facebook: “At the little time we had, I found her to be very serious about her studies and very excited about archaeology. This is breaking my heart.”
The Bishop of Lichfield, the Right Reverend Dr Michael Ipgrave — who chairs the Council of Christians and Jews — said he had asked for prayers to be recited for Ms Bladon at St George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem.
Ms Bladon was a keen supporter of Derby County football club. A minute’s silence was held for her at the club’s Championship game on Monday.
Police arrested a Palestinian man after the attack. He was named as Jamil Tamimi, a 57-year-old with a history of mental illness.
The State Prosecutor’s Office in Jerusalem pronounced him fit to stand trial after a psychiatric assessment.
Israel’s Channel 2 news reported that Tamimi told investigators he carried out the attack because he wanted to die and hoped the soldier who was standing next to
Ms Bladon on the tram would shoot him.
Hannah Bladon