Jerusalem – Grieving Father Describes Horror Says Van Blocked Toulouse Terrorist’s Entrance to School

Jerusalem – President Shimon Peres paid a visit to the homes of the Sandler and Monsonego families on Friday to offer his condolences over the death of their loved ones in last week’s terror attack at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France.

Yaakov Monsonego is the principal at the Ozar HaTorah school in Toulouse. His eight-year-old daughter Miriam was one of the victims. During Peres’ visit, he recounted the deadly terror attack: “Jonathan Sandler and his two sons were waiting with Miriam outside the school. I was already in the synagogue located on school grounds when I suddenly heard screaming. I didn’t hear gunfire, just people screaming ‘we are being shot at.’

“Then the assailant (Mohammed Merah) escaped and we understood the enormity of the horror. The great miracle was that a van blocked the progress of the scooter the (terrorist) was riding on. He planned on entering the synagogue, where dozens of children were waiting – thus, a massacre was avoided,” the grieving father recalled.

Yaakov Monsonego said his daughter “gave our family the strength to continue our educational mission in France, given that her four brothers were far away in Israel.”