The five bereaved families of the Israeli victims who were killed in a terrorist bombing in the Bulgarian vacation hot spot of Burgas last month visited the site of the attack on Monday and were scheduled to hold a memorial service for their lost loved ones on Tuesday evening at the Great Synagogue in Sofia, Bulgaria's capital. The families were later scheduled to meet with top Bulgarian leaders including the president, prime minister and tourism minister. In addition to the memorial service, the bereaved families are set to dedicate a new parochet, the curtain that covers the Torah ark in a synagogue, embroidered with the names of the five Israelis killed in the Burgas attack. The families arrived in Sofia on Monday and met with Israeli Ambassador to Bulgaria Shaul Camisa-Raz before going on to visit the Chabad house in the capital. Chabad Rabbi Yosef Salamon said the Israeli families lit memorial candles and blew the shofar in memory of the terror victims. On Monday, the father and brother-in-law of Burgas victim Itzik Kolangi, 28, decided at the last moment to travel to Bulgaria to participate in the memorial, after initially saying they could not afford the trip. A statement from the family on Monday said the only difficulty they faced in joining the flight was emotional. Yaakov Price, father of 26-year-old Elior who was also killed in the attack, is expected to mention his family's history during the memorial ceremony. Most of his family perished in the Holocaust, according to Price. "After seven decades, three generations, and after a state was created, we Jews are still being persecuted, Price said. We still refuse to believe it. We are experiencing days of tribulations and grief, long moments of pain and loss. In the place where hatred and revenge coincided and exploded, in that one terrible moment, the reality of our lives changed forever." In the attack on July 18, a terrorist detonated a bomb next to a bus carrying Israeli tourists. Six people five Israelis and their Bulgarian bus driver were killed. Israel has accused Iranian-backed Hezbollah of being behind the terror attack. U.S. officials have corroborated Israeli assessments, saying the bombing was in retaliation for the assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, for which Iran has blamed Israeli and Western agents.
