OTTAWA — Mariane Pearl, widow of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, was keynote speaker at the Jewish Federation of Ottawa’s annual campaign kickoff.
Mariane Pearl addresses campaign launch in Ottawa. [Diane Koven photo]
Pearl told her story, beginning with how and when she met her husband and about their adventures as travelling journalists leading to the fatal assignment in Pakistan.
They had been living in India at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York, Pearl recalled.
“We immediately went to Pakistan,” she told the Sept. 9 event. “There was a strong feeling that that was where journalists needed to be at that time. At that time, things were scarier in New York than in Pakistan.”
In one of life’s tragic ironies, Pearl said, “Danny refused to go to Afghanistan because he didn’t feel it was safe there for journalists.”
The world later witnessed, over and over again, the horror of Daniel Pearl’s last moments, captured on video by his murderers. His final words, including the statement “I am a Jew,” resonated the world over.
Pearl’s story, related in her book A Might Heart: The Brave Life and Death of My Husband Daniel Pearl, was also made into a Hollywood movie last year starring Angelina Jolie, so many in the audience at the kickoff were familiar with the details.
During the five weeks between her husband’s kidnapping and the discovery of his body, Pearl remained strong and in control of the search. Although she was pregnant, alone and extremely fearful, she knew that “If I broke, we were defeated.”
In the midst of the horror, there was a positive outcome: “The search for Danny brought together people of all religions, men and women, Americans and Pakistanis, journalists and police… everyone broke their boundaries for the common goal,” Pearl said.
Since her husband’s death, Pearl has told and retold his story as she travels around the world. She said she is determined to defeat the terrorists by refusing to succumb to feelings of revenge and hatred.
“For me, it is no joke to say that it takes as much determination to work for tolerance as it takes for a terrorist to blow himself up,” she said. “I felt that I had to display the same kind of courage in life as he had in death.”
She said she is also working very hard to set an example for the couple’s son, who was born after his father’s death.
Campaign chair Jason Shinder outlined some of the work being done by the federation’s various beneficiary agencies.
There are many success stories, but costs for everything have increased and so have the needs, he said.
“We need more – we need more volunteers, we need more donors and we need much more money,” said Shinder, asking that donors consider increasing their pledges this year by a minimum of 10 per cent to help reach the campaign goal of $5.2 million, of which the Women’s Division hopes to raise $800,000.00.