Charlotte Hemmings plays the title role in “My Name Is Rachel Corrie.” (Photo/Kirsten Shultz)
Charlotte Hemmings plays the title role in “My Name Is Rachel Corrie.” (Photo/Kirsten Shultz)

My name is Marla Bennett. I was an exchange student from UC Berkeley studying at Hebrew University and the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies when a bomb went off in the university cafeteria and I was murdered along with nine others, four of whom were also Americans.

Their names were Benjamin Blutstein, 25 years old, from Pennsylvania; Dina Carter, 37 years old, from North Carolina; Janis Ruth Coulter, 36 years old, from Massachusetts; and David Gritz, 24 years old, also from Massachusetts.

In July of 2002 we were all having lunch in the Frank Sinatra Cafeteria at Hebrew University when a bomb full of shrapnel left by a Hamas bomber was detonated by a cell phone signal. In addition to the nine people he murdered, 85 others were injured.

The play “My Name Is Rachel Corrie,” currently running in San Francisco, omits all context, portraying that period of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict only through Corrie’s eyes.

Rachel Corrie’s death was accidental and deeply tragic. A 23-year-old American student decided to come to Gaza, a war zone in 2003, to stand in solidarity — but in solidarity with whom? From 2001-2005, hundreds of rockets a year were being launched from Gaza at the Israeli community of Sderot, using materials brought in through tunnels just like the ones Corrie was trying to protect by serving as a human shield. The bulldozer that tragically ended her life was there to uncover one of 90 tunnels that terrorists were using to smuggle weapons into Gaza.

She was deliberately placed in a war zone as part of a strategy by the International Solidarity Movement, whose founder George Rishmawi boasted “…if some of these foreign volunteers get shot or even killed, then the international media will sit up and take notice.” As detailed by the Israeli watchdog group NGO Monitor, the ISM has a lengthy history of working with Hamas and knowingly placing foreign volunteers in situations where ISM leadership knew that they could be injured or killed.

Elsewhere in Israel, hundreds of civilians like me were being killed and maimed in suicide bombings. The terror that Israelis were dealing with while walking home, studying at school, on buses, at cafes, in malls, in their everyday life, had reached an all-time high.

These attacks were not done in the name of ending “occupation” and creating a Palestinian state that would live in peace with Israel, but rather in the cause of eliminating the Jewish state entirely. They also echoed the deeper hatred that was manifested in Arab attacks on Jews since the 1920s, in the cry “Itbach el Yahud” (kill the Jew) screamed out in riots organized by Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.

My death was deliberate and no less tragic than Rachel’s. I was killed because I was living in the Jewish state, close enough for Hamas to reach with one of its bombs.

My name is Marla Bennett. My name is Benjamin Blutstein. My name is Dina Carter. My name is Janis Ruth Coulter. My name is David Gritz. We all died at the hands of the same people the ISM leaders who recruited Rachel Corrie were trying to protect. Maybe somebody should write a play about us.

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Johanna Meckel is director of StandWithUs Northern California, an international Israel education organization.

33 replies on “‘My name is Marla Bennett’”

  1. For those who would like to participate in a vigil at selected performances of “My Name Is Rachel Corrie”, in memory of Marla Bennett and other victims of Hamas terrorism, please contact me (via Facebook, if I don’t know you personally) for details.
    Mike Harris

    1. are you going when the corries are showing up?
      might be worth the 25 bux to engage them in conversation

      1. If you order through JVP the tickets are half – price. The producers sure do know their audience. If you go, ask them about the time Hamas operatives nearly kidnapped then in Gaza, until they realized the Corries had more propaganda value just the way they are.

  2. Very well written. The world was mortified when Rachel Corrie killed herself. And, that is what she did. Anybody who jumps under a bulldozer, truck, bus or train, is suicidal. Sometimes it is altruism, but if you have a fake cause, you should not be remembered. You are not a hero. You are fodder.

  5. much of this talkback is embarrassing. You don’t have to agree with Rachel Corrie, but you calling her a bitch and otherwise ridiculing her? The shame of it.

    1. Rachel Corrie was the embodiment of ignorance, hatred, and leftist narcissism. The B-word is way too mild for her…

  6. I’m SICK of this american habit, that american citizen victims are more of an outrage than other “class b humans”! When some whoever has visited the mourning parents of the three kidnapped and murdered teenagers, of course taking his own tv crew with him, he was also stuck at “you cannot do this to an american citizen”, ONE of the three boys! Don’t americans feel, how repulsive this attitude is???? I’d love to hear some normal answers!

      1. No, an israel citizen, sick of the american superiority complex. The author starts with the cafeteeria murders saying that there was nine victims of which she names only the four americans as if the other five’s death has had no weight. And the same at the end. And this is just one example of a longstanding, regular pattern. Oh, look , american hutzpa…

        1. I’m certain that wasn’t the intention of the article- it was written because there is a play locally that exploits the death of an activist whose name is well known because she was American and because she was classically “photogenic”. This article calls attention to other Americans killed in the Middle East who haven’t been cynically exploited as a propaganda tool. Its not just Israeli Jews and Americans killed in acts of Palestinian terror- Visitors from places as dissimilar as Thailand, Russia and Ecuador have been the victims of terror attacks. And yes, they each have a name and a story and a family that loved them. And yes, their stories are important, too. No one doubts that.

        2. i believe it is done to compare and contrast the story of corrie and how the play martyrs a very disturbed young woman who made believe she was working for peace, while she was protecting terrorists

        3. No, the author only does that to call attention to the parallel between the American Rachel Corrie and the American terror victims. All were American, but why does AMERICA pay so much attention to Rachel Corrie’s death, and ignore the others who were also their countrymen? That’s all. You must realize, from a common sense standpoint, that any author with such strong devotion to the Jewish people and to Israel would never actually think that the lives of American Jews are more valuable or worthy of mention than the lives of non-American Jews.

          2. I’m not saying that you have not met Americans yourself who act as if they only care about American victims. I believe you! All I’m saying is that the author of this particular article is not doing that. She’s making a point that Americans (mostly liberals) cry over Rachel Corrie and make her a hero, but ignore the American victims of terror.

    2. I think the idea of this article is not that American life is more valuable, but to draw attention to the idea that Rachel Corrie was only one of many victims of that time. Marla Bennet’s tragic murder did not get attention. This is an essay addressing this Rachel Corrie play and trying to give some balance.

      You also make a point worth noting. The world does not care about Muslim lives as long as they were cut down by their own. The world (do we really mean Western media?) doesn’t care about the Christian or Yazidi who are being slaughtered. There is so much tragedy in this world and much of it is ignored. Please note who wrote this article and the purpose it was written. It’s not meant to ignore other suffering, but to contrast the anti Israel propaganda. I hope this post makes sense to you. It’s not meant as a fight but to acknowledge your point and expand the understanding.

      1. I know that it’s never their purpose, yet this pattern always comes up without them realizing it. Yep, the author has started the article with stating: the cafeteeria murder has had 9 victims, four of them american, here are their names: and four american jew’s name. And the same at the end of the article. As if the other five wouldn’t be worth mentioning, their death wouldn’t carry any weight. And I’m pretty sure, she hasn’t even caught on, this nasty habit is so instinctive with them.

        1. Agnes, I have lived in the US and I live in Israel now. I can tell you that when a Jew is murdered in Israel or anywhere in the world the (active) Jewish community mourns. Truly. You have much to say and I wish you would write articles of your own. My highest hope is that we don’t start “in-fighting”. We are each doing the best we can. Each Jew in Israel (most of us) came from a diaspora that influenced us. Hopefully we left
          and took good characteristics but we have also adopted some embarrassing characteristics (arrogance, for example, or dumping trash around) that we would do well to get rid of. I don’t think it serves to point out or criticize another Jew’s weakness. It is better to strengthen, build, and teach each other. In Perkei Avot it is called an “ayin tov” a good eye. We all need to use it. (including those who responded to you!)

          It’s a hard day as we write these notes, Yom HaZikaron, and our nation has lost much. From what I am learning, we need unity now, more than ever. One quote I love is “Unity, not uniformity.” God bless.

        2. Agnes, I’m pretty sure that the only reason this article called attention to the American victims is because it was written for an American audience. Sometimes the only way to reach people is to make them realize that what is happening “out there” is actually much closer to them than they think. I read this article twice and have read many articles that focus on the American victims, and I have never, ever come away with the impression that the author is saying the non-American lives don’t matter, are not worth a mention. ?

      2. I take exception to classifying Rachel Corrie as a “victim”. Rachel was a willing participant and agent in her own demise thanks to her impulsive, reckless behavior combined with hysterical hatred and ignorance.

        1. I hear you. How about if we call Corrie a victim of the misinformation (propaganda) that put her so against Israel? In my heart of hearts I want to believe that she wanted what was good and that she was used as a puppet. Albeit willing…

          1. In my heart of hearts I want to believe that she wanted what was good

            I don’t. She was a member of the same hard left that disrupts speaking events on college campuses and beats up people who don’t share their political views, lying about those people in the process. Corrie was merely one of the little Goebbels wannabes that infest our college campuses these days. Corrie wasn’t looking to do good in the world, she was looking for an excuse to fight someone.

  7. I find it abhorrent that you are speaking in Marla and Ben’s name. I actually knew Ben, did you? Did you personally know Marla? We have many mutual friends. Did you speak to them before writing this piece? Did you speak with her family before using her name to push your own agenda?

    1. Your reaction puzzles me. This compassionate article was written as a gesture of solidarity and unity. Hundreds of thousands of people across social media changed their avatars to “Je Suis Charlie” after the terror attacks in France. They weren’t, in fact, “Charlie”. They might not even have read the journal, or even have lived in France. Their grief was in fact real, as was their desire to help,and to be a source of comfort. It was a gesture of brotherhood and shared humanity across borders. It wasn’t about an “agenda”. It was about solidarity and memory. Thats how I read this as well.

      1. It is possible that Harry is a leftist Jew and embarrassed and uncomfortable with any position that defends innocent Jewish victims of terror.

    2. Harry- I am sorry for your loss.

      Today is the day of remembrance for victims of terror, and for those who died defending the state of Israel. For those who grieve, we remember always, not just today.

      We collectively mourn the young people named in the article and well as the defenders of our state. We do this as a people – they are our sons and daughters. The outpouring of collective grief expressed in this article isn’t meant to negate or diminish the individual grief of Marla’s and Ben’s friends and family.

      Kol Yisrael Areivim Zeh Ba-Zeh

    3. Marla was a second cousin of mine. I only knew her as a child, so I don’t know what she would say about any of this, but I completely agree with you. I’m appalled by this article, and even more shocked and saddened that certain members of my family have shared it on social media without regard for its exploitative nature. Thank you for your comment.

  8. Kol hakavod. It’s time we speak up for the victims of Muslim terror. The only point in this article with which I disagree is the statement that Rachel Corrie’s death was a tragedy; no, it was not a tragedy, it was a blessing. She may have been young, stupid, and deluded, but she nonetheless was a dangerous enemy of western civilization.

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