“We will not sit to negotiate the value of our daughter’s life,” said Ilan’s father, Uriel Bar-Shalom. “If ultimately we have to sue, a judge will have to decide.”
Etti Balali, mother of Gali Balali, who perished in the disaster, says she has mixed feelings. “With the settlement, the state taking responsibility in a way for the disaster in which nine girls and one boy died, and we look at that as something a little positive. This is justice and it is the appropriate step. However, to this day not one government body – neither the Education Ministry nor the Defense Ministry – is ready to say that they bear some blame for what happened. The statement today from the State Prosecutor’s Office also did not contain any words like that.”