A Swedish entrepreneur sent 900 roses to the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, in a tribute to the Israeli victims of the Hamas terrorist attack that began last weekend.
The flowers arrived at the embassy gate on Tuesday distributed in 18 wreaths and accompanied by a note that read: “Be strong! We love Israel!”
The man behind the initiative chose 900 to match an earlier death count.
“I was just horrified with the rest of the world by the murder in Israel,” Olof Appleton, CEO of Appleton Capital, said in a telephone interview with JNS from Stockholm on Thursday. “It’s just crazy.”
Appleton, who has visited Israel just once, noted that he sent the flowers to the ambassador, and they ended up being set up outside due to their large number. He later learned that 18—the unplanned number of bouquets that the online florist sent—represents chai, the Hebrew word for “life.”
“We have no words,” the embassy wrote on Facebook, posting a picture of the flowers. “Thank you, Olof Appleton and Appleton Capital, for sending 900 (!) roses to the embassy to show your support!”
According to the latest casualty count, at least 1,300 Israelis were killed and 3,000 injured in the Islamist assault, the most lethal attack on the country in a half-century.