Racheli Frankel. Photo: YouTube screenshot.

Racheli Frankel

Activist

Racheli Frankel has experienced every mother’s worst nightmare: her child didn’t come home at the end of the day. And in the process she became a global symbol of Jewish dignity, pride and resilience. This summer, her 16-year-old son Naftali, and two other teenage students, Eyal Yifrah and Gilad Shaer, were kidnapped and murdered on their way home from school. Before she knew of Naftali’s ultimate fate, Frankel spoke before the UN Human Rights Council. She also posed a question to the UN secretary-general as well as to the council, which routinely singles out Israel for supposed human rights violations:  “It is wrong to take children, innocent boys or girls, and use them as instruments of any struggle. It is cruel. This council is charged with protecting human rights. I wish to ask: Doesn’t every child have the right to come home safely from school?”