Times Square billboard mourns murdered Israeli teens

Electronic billboard originally purchased to call for teens’ safe return to remain active in their memory for two weeks

By JTA 16 July 2014, 1:33 pm

Edit

Eyal Yifrah, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Fraenkel, 16, the three Israeli teenagers who were kidnapped on June 12 and whose bodies were found on June 30. (photo credit: IDF/AP)

An electronic billboard advertisement in Times Square is mourning the three murdered Israeli teens.

Time on the billboard that features rotating advertisements was originally purchased to call for the safe return of Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach, who were abducted from a junction in Gush Etzion south of Jerusalem on June 12.

After the discovery of the teens’ bodies on June 30, the billboard advertisement was changed to read, “We join the families and all of Israel in mourning the tragic loss of these innocent boys.”

The ad airs for 15 seconds twice every hour and will remain up for two more weeks, the Algemeiner website reported.

Rabbi Dovid Cohen of the Young Israel of the West Side, which funded the billboard advertisement, said people from around the world have reached out to him due to the advertisement, including the Jewish former governor of Hawaii, Linda Lingle.