Newsmaker: When terror strikes home (Mother of Brooklyn Bridge Terror Victim Speaks Out)

When 16-year-old Ari Halberstam was murdered on the Brooklyn Bridge, more than 10,000 people gathered in Crown Heights to mourn him. For Ari's mother, however, the 1994 slaying marked a new beginning as one of the country's foremost anti-terror advocates.

"It was the dividing line between who I was and who I am," says Devorah Halberstam. "I'm a totally different person."

Ari's murderer, Rashid Baz, a Lebanese national who said he targeted a van full of Hassidic youth in retaliation for Baruch Goldstein's massacre of 29 Muslims days earlier in Hebron, was sentenced to 141 years in prison, but the FBI classified his attack as "road rage." Yet for Halberstam, a Lubavticher with four surviving children, justice hadn't been served: Her eldest child had been murdered in a terrorist attack on US soil, and she vowed not to rest until the world was alerted to the danger.

By 2000, the FBI had reclassified Ari's murder as an act of terrorism, but Halberstam continued her fight for justice. Coming from a world where men dominate the public agenda, Halberstam, 47, has become an unlikely voice in the war on terror, ensuring the passage of counter-terrorism laws in New York, sitting on the state's Commission on Terrorism, working with the FBI, and helping to train NYPD rookies to fight today's threats.

Halberstam has ensured that the world will never forget about her son; a year after his death, New York's City Council renamed the ramp leading to the Brooklyn Bridge in his honor; funds raised on his behalf were used to purchase a Hatzolah ambulance; a bill, called Ari's Law, that would require a license in order to possess a mail-order gun kit, was drafted, and as the director of foundation and government services at the Jewish Children's Museum (a $30 million Crown Heights project slated to open this spring), Halberstam hopes to foster tolerance among children of all backgrounds.

A dinner for the museum in mid-January was star-studded, with Sen. Hillary Clinton, Governor George Pataki - who called Ari his "Jewish guardian angel" - and former mayor Rudolph Giuliani among the many sidling up to a beaming Halberstam for conversation and photo-ops. But 10 years along, Halberstam is still heartbroken over Ari's death and terrorism's rising toll.

"You can have the greatest of joys, but in your ultimate joy, you will always have the sorrow," she says. "In a split second, lives change forever."

It took seven years to convince the government to reclassify Ari's case as a terrorist attack. What kept you going? I think there is nothing that compares to the love of a mother for a child. Nothing surpasses that. Right after I got up from shiva [week-long mourning period], even within the week of shiva, there was this adrenaline that started to pump in me, in my grief and in my sorrow. As time went on, it became even more intense. I'm a very idealistic person, and I see a lot of life in black and white, so there's right and wrong. I just had to make things right, and there was no question in my mind that there had to be justice for Ari. Once my child was murdered, it was my duty, it is my duty, it continues to be my duty to use whatever strength I have, not to live for him, but to make sure he is not forgotten, that there is full justice for him.

Why do you think the FBI was so reluctant to reclassify Ari's murder? It was the state of mind of America. The FBI has its own guidelines, and according to those guidelines, it was crystal clear that Ari's case fit [as a terrorist attack] without any doubt. So in denying it, it was totally ridiculous because it didn't make sense. So part of the reason is they just weren't following their own rules.

But it goes back to the state of mind of all Americans, of law enforcement in general and the FBI in particular, and that may be one of the reasons why, unfortunately, 9-11 happened. The entire United States of America was in denial. When I talked about the threat of terrorism... when I discussed the terrorist cells that are here in America, it was almost like I'd look people in the eye and I knew they weren't there. [Terrorism] was not on the radar screen for anybody.

Even after Ari's attack was reclassified, it took nine months for the FBI to declare the 2002 LAX shooting a terrorist act. Do you think there's a double standard here when it comes to recognizing terrorism targeted at Jews and Israelis vs. terrorism targeted at Americans? I've had many discussions with law enforcement on that, and sadly, I would have to agree that there is that element. I must tell you that there have been people in very high positions who have acknowledged to me that probably that is true. Having said that, I do believe my efforts have really borne fruit.

We sued the gun manufacturer [for negligently marketing and manufacturing the gun parts used by Baz in the attack] and the defense attorney in that case played the Arab-Israeli card in the courtroom. He said, "This is not about guns, this is about Arabs and Jews," and the jury bought it. What I mean to say is, clearly, when something happens like what happened with Ari, it seems like if it's a Jew and it's in revenge for Israel, so they have problems between each other. But to make the case that what happened to my son Ari, who was an American teenager crossing the Brooklyn Bridge in broad daylight, who was shot in a hail of 40 rounds of ammunition fired over the entire length of the Brooklyn Bridge, to say that it was nothing less than a terrorist attack on innocent civilians, and that it took seven years [to reclassify it] only confirms it [the double standard].

On the other hand, their retracting it and changing it in itself proves that they are making changes.

Why do you think there have been so few attacks like the Brooklyn Bridge attack? In 1994, it was an open forum. You could do anything you wanted, and not only that, our country enabled these people to fester, to grow, to plant themselves here. You take a place like the University of South Florida. [In 2003, a USF professor, graduate student and Arabic language instructor were among those charged by the Justice Department with using American academic and non-profit groups as fronts for Islamic Jihad.] Now we're catching up, very quickly.

...I want to mention that the Patriot Act is something I believe in very strongly. Those who oppose it oppose it based on [a fear for] civil liberties. [Yet] there is nothing more important than the Patriot Act to protect the civil liberties of victims of terrorism. I'm on board with it because I completely understand how it applies; most people do not understand the application, but because I've been through all the courtrooms, there is no one who understands it the way I do. A lot of the laws will sunset in February, 2005, which means they need to start from scratch again, and it's important that [the laws] are not watered down.

This war on terrorism is not over; we have a long road ahead of us. We are not in the business of walking around with AK-47s in this country; we are a democratic country, we have to use the laws, and we have to close every loophole in the laws. I have seen over the years how they have used every loophole, and I'm proud to say law enforcement has made such tremendous strides that terrorists need to fear us at this point. We really are doing a tremendous job.

Did Ari's murder have an impact on your relationship with Israel? Ari's murder was a revenge attack for what took place in Israel, so the bond was immediate. It became so clear how we as Jews are one as a people and one with Israel. Sometimes people say, what do we in America have to do with Israel other than to send our checks? All of a sudden, our blood was the same blood. Visiting Israel after Ari's murder, I can tell you there was not one person, from a taxi driver to people in government, who did not remember Ari. I was told that after Ari was killed on the bridge, the American people came to know what Israelis are going through. When I traveled, I actually felt more comforted being in Israel than in the States. I felt that people knew the kind of suffering I was going through; it's not the same way people responded in America.

Devorah Halberstam

Ari Halberstam

The NY Times does not like to be reminded of Ari Halberstam:

It certainly does not settle the question of why, again near the Brooklyn Bridge, some of the most thorough signage on this planet points the way to the Ari Halberstam Memorial Ramp, the piece of roadway named in memory of the young Hasidic student who was slain on the bridge in 1994. Some people believe that scientists will one day invent a supercomputer to estimate the number of signs marking the way to the Ari Halberstam Memorial Ramp. There may be people in far-flung countries who can recite flawless directions to the Ari Halberstam Memorial Ramp, so well marked is its approach.

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This beautiful, mourning mother has devoted herself for 10 long, painful years ceaselessly to warn us about the IslamoFascist war on the US. Her cries and warnings went completely unheeded.

Clinton's perverted FBI even had the chutzpah to labeled this terrorist attack as "road rage."

"Even after Ari's attack was reclassified, it took nine months for the FBI to declare the 2002 LAX shooting a terrorist act."

Are FBI agents retarded or are they deliberately lying? Whats going on here? Officers who lie intentionally need to be fired. Those too stupid to do their job effectively need to be fired. Those sympathetic toward terrorists need to be fired. Have they been? There seems to be no accountability in federal law enforcement.

We sued the gun manufacturer [for negligently marketing and manufacturing the gun parts used by Baz in the attack] and the defense attorney in that case played the Arab-Israeli card in the courtroom.

The author of this article is a freakin' moron. Do you want to know why everyone was in denial over the motive behind this attack, and why the FBI took so long to reclassify this murder as a terrorist attack?

Because people like Melissa Radler were busy suing the gun manufacturer instead of assigning the blame where it belonged.

people like Melissa Radler were busy suing the gun manufacturer

Read the article before you go off half cocked. Melissa Radler did not sue anyone.

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