(PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

A group of 300 runners encompassing Jews, Arabs, Druse, and Circassians including dozens of terror victims and bereaved family members participated in Friday’s 8th Annual Jerusalem Winner Marathon. The group was assembled by OneFamily which supports terror victims and their families and bereaved family members of fallen soldiers.

The route carried runners past some of Jerusalem’s most famous historic, cultural and heritage sites including the Knesset, Machane Yehuda Marketplace, Mount Scopus, Old City, David’s Citadel, Haas Promenade and more. They also passed numerous sites of chilling terror attacks, with the aim of showing the world that the Israeli people will never allow terror to crush them.

Numbering among the runners were parents and siblings of IDF soldiers and security forces who fell in the line of duty or during combat operations in Gaza and northern border.

“Today, we have an opportunity to show that we identify with and feel the pain of our fellow Israelis who lost their sons for the sake of this country,” relayed a spokesperson for OneFamily.

OneFamily Team runners included Orit Mark, daughter of Rabbi Michael Mark, HY”D, of Otniel; Dvir Litman, who lost his father Yaakov HY”D and brother Netanel HY”D,, in the brutal terror shooting on Highway 60. Dvir, who was also wounded in the attack, exerted great effort to attend the Marathon on his own. David Bilia of Betar Illit who was seriously wounded by a Molotov cocktail while driving home. He miraculously escaped his vehicle but was badly assaulted by the terrorists afterward. Maya Rachimi who was stabbed in the back by a terrorist on Bus #78 in the Armon HaNatziv neighborhood in Jerusalem during the recent wave of terror. Meir Pavlovsky, who was shot in his shoulder and stomach in a Kiryat Arba attack. Pavlovsky was rushed to the hospital in critical condition and underwent repeated surgeries.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)