Second bus stop bomb victim buried in Jerusalem

Tadese Tashume Ben Ma’ada, a 50-year-old immigrant from Ethiopia, is being eulogized in Jerusalem after he succumbed to injuries Saturday, four days after being critical wounded in a \bomb attack at a bus stop at the main entrance to Jerusalem.

Hundreds attended his funeral at Har Hamenuhot Cemetery, less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) from where the attack occurred.

Haile Mara says his cousin’s dream was for all remaining family members, including his brothers and sisters, to be able to move to Israel. Ben Ma’ada immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia 21 years ago.

“He was working on this until the last moment. On the morning of the attack, he sent me an email on the subject at 6:44 a.m. and when I answered him at 7:06 a.m., it was already after the attack,” Mara said. “I tried to call and he didn’t answer,”

Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion said he had met Ben Ma’ada the evening before the bomb attack at the inauguration of a new community center for the Ethiopian community.

“In one moment, [the bombing] ended a human story — a story about Zionism, about aliyah, about the love of the Land of Israel, about the love of Jerusalem. And in a symbolic and tragic way, this happened precisely on the day of the great holiday of the Ethiopian Jews, Sigd,” says Lion.

Ben Ma’ada leaves behind a wife and six children.