Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski met earlier this week in Jerusalem with the families of the five Israeli victims of the Burgas bus bombing and said his country was making progress in hunting down the terrorists responsible for the July 2012 terrorist attack .
“I perceive that soon we will be able to bring to justice those who are to be blamed for this terrorist act”, he said in a speech before the World Jewish Congress-Israel and the Israel Council on Foreign Relations (ICFR) in Jerusalem.
During the meeting with the families, Oresharski gave them the victims’ passports found at the scene of the bombing, which Bulgarian and Israeli authorities say was carried out by Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite group.
According to Israel Hayom, Kobi Preis, whose son Elior was killed in the bus bombing at Burgas aiport, said at the meeting, “We ask that the European Union decision to label only the military wing of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization be changed. How could they not label the entire organization as a terrorist organization?”
Preis added, “We really appreciate the fact that Oresharski came to meet with us.”
The bereaved families presented the Bulgarian Prime Minister with the gift of a goblet carved with the image of two hands holding the city of Jerusalem.
Orgesharski who also met his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit, stressing that Bulgaria ‘’is Israel’s close ally.’’ ‘’The strategic character of our relationship must continue to develop based on mutual trust, beneficial economic and trade relations, and the hearty friendship between the two peoples,’’ he added.
He also emphasized the traditionally cordial relations between Jews and Bulgarians and the fact that Bulgarian society refused to acquiesce to German demands to deport the country’s Jewish population to Nazi death camps.
“I am very impressed by the warm and deep feelings toward Bulgaria of Israelis of Bulgarian origin” said the Bulgarian Prime Minister who was accompanied by three ministers and members of the Bulgarian parliament