In 1985, the "Jibril deal" was concluded between Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Ahmad Jibril, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. In the deal, Israel freed 1,150 terrorists in exchange for three soldiers who had been kidnapped during the First Lebanon War.

The deal aroused a storm of controversy in Israel, due to the stark asymmetry between the price that Israel paid and the few captives received in return, who did not even include all the captives and those missing in action for whose release Israel had bargained.

The enormity of the price paid began to become clear only three years later, when many of the freed terrorists became the leaders of the first "intifada."

Of 238 terrorists freed in the Jibril deal who reached Samaria or Judea (the West Bank), forty-eight percent returned to terrorism and were recaptured by Israeli forces.

In 1986, in the wake of the Jibril deal, the Almagor Terror Victims Association was founded. Since then TVA has played a critical role in exerting pressure against the release of terrorists.

Goals

* Organize terror victims and let their voices be heard
* Ensure welfare services for terror victims and their families
* Disseminate information about terrorism and its victims
* Execute research about terrorism and the struggle for Zionism
* Assist in memorialization of terror victims

In Israeli society there are many victims of terrorism, both direct and indirect (including family members and friends), who for their entire lives are afflicted by trauma, disability, and mourning. Yet the larger public is not consciously aware of them once the news cycle has ended.

At TVA, we keep in mind that any of us could have been a terror victim. We work constantly to fulfill society's obligation to lessen the victims' burden just a little.

Social activities: TVA workshops, trips for children and for families, holiday functions, Shabbat gatherings, meetings of bereaved parents, personal coaching for juvenile terror victims, and visits to terror victims and bereaved families provide victims with a social framework in which they strengthen and reinforce each other.

Legal activities: TVA is engaged at home and abroad in the continuing fight against terrorism. TVA petitions to the High Court and provides representation for terror victims against terrorists in cases of punishment for terrorism, expulsion of suicide terrorists' families, and demolition of terrorists' homes. TVA also provides terror victims with legal assistance to ensure that they receive the social security payments to which they are entitled, consultation for presenting applications for disability recognition, and other important information regarding their rights as terror victims.

Information about terrorism: TVA organizes meetings with members of the Knesset, foreign parliamentarians, and journalists from Israel and from abroad; vigils and protests against terrorism; representative delegations to other countries; and the collection of information on terrorism and its dissemination through advertisements, flyers, signs, and other media.

Memorialization of terror victims: TVA prepares memorial events, provides consultation for composition of memorial books, and sees to funerals and memorial services for lone terror victims.

TVA Founders and Board Members

* Lt.-Col. (ret.) Meir Indor, terror victim
* Eli Azoulai, bereaved father
* Professor Yehuda Elitzur (deceased), Bible scholar
* Dr. Aryeh Bachrach, bereaved father
* Rabbi Yechezkel Daum (deceased)
* Rabbi Chaim Druckman, head of Yeshivot Bnei Akiva and terror victim
* Tzafi Has-Adorian, bereaved widow
* Rabbi Dov Lior, municipal rabbi of Kiryat Arba
* Rabbi Yosef Mendelevich, former Prisoner of Zion
* Leah Mendelson (deceased), bereaved mother
* Tzvi Fishman, director and author
* Rabbi Menachem Felix, bereaved father
* Yochanan Ramati, bereaved father

Contact Information

The Almagor Terror Victims Association may be reached at:
234 Yaffo Street
PO box 36287
Jerusalem 91361
Israel

Telephone: 02-538-8999
Fax: 02-537-2616

victims1@gmail.com

Within the United States, donations may be sent to:
Terror Victims Association, Inc.
1225 Ocean Parkway
Apartment 3E
Brooklyn, NY 11230
718-692-0482

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Read about some past TVA campaigns ...
1989: Arafat at Large at the US Consolate
1992: Expulsion of Hamas Terrorists
1993: Opposing Oslo
2001: Counter-Lawfare

... and more recent activities ...
Preventing the release of Hamas terrorists