Missing French Girl Feared Dead in Israel; Mother, Grandfather Arrested

Aug. 27, 2008— -- A story told in a different language is just as powerful for Hebrew students.

Hebrew University Ulpan teacher Shlomit Chazani begins every class by asking her summer Ulpan (Hebrew for language-intensive class) students, "Mah hadash," or "What's new?" Instead of the usual small talk responses, today Chazani's students asked in broken Hebrew if she would please explain the meaning of the headline on the Hebrew newspaper "Israel Today," which reads "The Angel and the Devil."

The "angel" refers to a 4-year-old who was allegedly murdered by the "devil," or her 45-year-old grandfather, back in May. The police only recently learned of the girl's disappearance.

Without speaking a word of English to her second-level Hebrew students, Chazani used a basic Hebrew vocabulary to explain the not-so-basic disappearance and alleged murder of a 4-year-old girl, a case Israeli police are calling "one of the most shocking in the country's history," according to Reuters.

"You could tell everyone was really affected and everyone really understood the meaning of the whole story even without having a bunch a big words that we haven't gotten to yet," Hilary Greenberg, a 40-something Ulpan student, told ABC News.

Chazani simplified the intricate chain of events that led Ronny Ron to confess to the murder of his granddaughter, Rose Pizem, "in a fit of anger," Ron's lawyer told Reuters.

"I was planning on talking about this story with the class even before they asked me about it," Chazani told ABC News.

Rose's disappearance and alleged murder have caught the interest of not only the media but also the Israeli public. Ma'ariv, an Israeli newspaper, printed the title "Madness: Half the country searching the Yakron for Rose's body."

The public is also leaving comments on online articles suggesting other locations in which to look for the body. One reader, Eric, of Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, wrote, "They say that Israel only invokes the death penalty for the most heinous crimes. I hope this one doesn't slip by!"