Category: Our Heroes
I’ve been doing this blog long enough to open up to other dimensions of life here. Just this Thursday we went to the gravesite of a person who was my friend and neighbor, an incredible human being. When Moshe and I made Aliyah and were greenhorns to a great degree- Gilad always spoke regular to us as if we were regular Israelis- never made us in any way feel different or uncomfortable. He treated us as siblings and was family to us – the only family we really had here. I thought I would share some things with you written by his wife, Hagar. Let this piece be leh-eelooy nishmato!
Hagar: Eesroo Chag Shavuot is the date Gilad Zar was murdered 16 years ago. I want to tell you about him. Why is it important to tell you? Because he was a Jewish soul that was taken by Hashem to heaven while he was still young and healthy, a father of a family with lots of tasks yet to do, plans and dreams still not fulfilled- there is great significance to this- think about his great personality and his special soul , to what you want to take from learning about him and how it will affect the way you want to live your life……. Every scope of Gilad’s life had fullness to it- his cup ran over literally. He was energetic, full of motivation, ran from place to place, got a lot done and was the best at what he did. It is easy to identify with him. He was easy to be friends with. The oldest of eight children, he was born on Kibbutz Be’erot Yitzchak and grew up in Moshav Nechalim. Later the family moved the Karney Shomron and he went to learn in Yeshivat Or Etzion. Gilad became an officer in the IDF in Nachal Gdood 50 Paratroopers. I met him there when I myself was an officer after the evacuation of Yamit in Sinai and the transfer of the communities to Gush Katif. I was brought secular and of course Gilad was Torah observant from birth- he brought into a new world eventually of return to the real Jewish roots.
A month and a half before Gilad was murdered he was injured in a drive by shooting. He evacuated himself, was treated and returned to his job as the senior Kabat of the Shomron. He at the time of the murder had eight children, ages- 15-3. He did not have the merit of seeing our children marry nor did he meet our grandchildren. But he does see them from heaven and participate in our simchas from the heavenly realm he is in. We feel it.
Gilad helped establish over thirty communities in the Shomron. The place he was murdered became an important junction and the new road paved in his name- “Gilad’s Way”( Tzeer Gilad) which connects Gav Hahar to the western part of the Shomron which slopes down to the coast. On this road, The Gilad Farm- Chavat Gilad was set up, a community which is growing now too. Gilad also led the bulldozers to where all the new roads were to be paved into and on all the new settlements. He worked nights as days in order to make sure not an inch of State land was ever trespassed or poached on. Gilad loved the army and loved wearing his army uniform. He gave everyone a sense of complete security. He was the Shomron land scout when things were first being mapped out, a pathfinder and reconnoiter that knew his way around every tree Tel cave and far away wadi, and loved his job.
Gilad also loved home. He loved raising his children and would help with household tasks gladly. He would wash dishes, wash the floor, cook, shop, feed the kids, put the little ones to bed, shower them, change diapers, prepare sandwiches for school and kindergarten and would always say “To have honor- you must work hard!” He never wasted time on sleep. Think about that- he was thoughtful, responsible, shared, gave and was diligent. He had self- sacrifice for real values. When people asked him how much sugar to put in his coffee he would say “With a wife like mine- who needs sugar!” He was humorous and used humor as a tool for dealing with the various challenges of life. One of the most touching moments of my life was when my father died he said “Now I will be your father too”. Then he wasn’t being funny but thoughtful.
When I would work at night cleaning up the home and taking advantage of the little ones sleeping to do other labors he would say “If Hashem wanted you to work- he would make the sun shine at night honey!” Think of that- Truthful humor, flexibility, thoughtfulness and generous! A good heart makes us rise above everything! He said we have to live what we learn in the Torah. Gilad was the expert fixer and would fix all the broken washing machines, dryers, fridges and never take a dime for doing it from anyone. When something broke he would be there- IMMEDIATELY! Think of that- Concern for your neighbor, help, goodfriend, persistent in doing good deeds.
Gilad established Itamar and was the first mayor, the first security head and leader of the first nucleus of families to come out of Machon Meir, many of them baaley teshuva. Lots of these people came out of kibbutzim and were fresh in keeping mitzvoth, not knowing all the minute details of halacha or tradition- in prayer and in practice. In his simple way, as he did with me, he brought them all close to yiddishkiet- he was wonderful at that! Think about that- if each person reading this right now would reach out and help another person know a little more about torah and mitzvoth how that would shake the world!
Gilad was like a ruler- straight, clean, organized, never cursed, maybe a little cynical at times but to a boundary- He always said- “Don’t wait for someone else to do it for you- YOU DO IT!” He was a person of truth- no shows. Shape your personality around the good Jewish values we hold so preciously close to us! Read books about Jewish heroes!
Gilad was also on top of everything else the ambulance driver and urgent care volunteer. Many Shabbat meals were spent without him because duty called and he went to take a woman to give birth or an injured child to the emergency room. Gilad also always thought out of the box- a bobby pin can be used for just about everything, an old washing machine motor turned into something else- a scale for measuring could be made out of a glass jar and a line drawn with magic marker and just fill it with water- just about anything could be used instead of anything! THINK OUT OF THE BOX! There was always an alternative if one thing didn’t work- then you just used something else! Creative thinking! NEVER SAY “I CAN’T DO IT!” For instance- women shouldn’t say “I don’t understand a Shabbat clock”……… nor should they not know how to screw in a lightbulb.
There is so much more but I guess you get a picture of what a tsaddik was like- very involved in fixing the world!
I hope that the things said here in the name of dear Gilad have opened up your thinking and that you take his example and implement them into your lifestyle.
All of these things are example of miseeroot nefesh (self sacrifice). For Eretz Yisrael, for your fellow friend and neighbor close by and far away maybe. It is about a way of life that you choose by putting aside your personal needs for the doing of great things. It doesn’t have to be nor shouldn’t it be dying on Kiddush Hashem. Its true haroogey malchut are on a very high level,that their souls are elevated to the seat of Kavod, but our actions here in this world will fix this world- Our goodness should match their personal goodness- we feel their influence and hashgacha on us always. Yihee nishmato tzroora betzrore hachayim- END
It hard to fathom all that we have experienced here on Itamar with the loss of these precious souls. I cannot begin to tell you what amazing a person Gilad was for me, for us –One time (out of the many) he took me to give birth we arrived at the hospital and asked me well- if it’s a girl go through the right side of the door and if it’s a boy- go through the left-He was trying to humor me as my contractions were pretty bad and I was getting ready to scream. That’s the way he was…. Driving the ambulance through Ramallah in the height of the intifada (there was no bypass road yet at that time), he demonstrated complete calm and was like a father/brother / care bear that really just made me feel totally safe and sound. Another time he took us up to Mount Eval to meet the archeologist that discovered Joshua’s altar way before it even became publicized – who were we that we should have such an honor I asked him. He just smiled sheepishly- He always made us feel special. His actions will be engrained in my memory forever and will hopefully also be an example for our children and theirs in the continuing challenges we face along the way- the way we continue to pave towards geulah shelaymah! Xoxoxoxoox
The heart of a community 03/08/2012 13:15 By JOSH HASTEN One year later, 
residents, friends and family of the Fogel family gathered to commemorate their lives. Photo by: Boaz Motas Leah Goldsmith pulls back the curtains from her living- room window to reveal a breathtaking view. In the distance, just a few kilometers to the north of her home in the Samaria community of Itamar, she points out the twin peaks of Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. She explains that in the Torah, Moses commands the Children of Israel that as soon as they cross the Jordan River into Israel, a special ceremony will be held at the site of these two mountains. According to the text in the Book of Deuteronomy, six tribes of Israel were commanded to ascend Mount Gerizim, known for its beautiful, tree-covered slopes, while the other six tribes were to climb Mount Ebal, which was barren and strewn with rocks. The priests and the Levites stood in the valley between the two mountains, and the Levites alternated between turning toward Mount Gerizim and shouting out the blessings that would come to the Jewish people if they kept God’s commandments, and facing Mount Ebal to recite the curses that would befall the nation should they forsake the Torah. The tribes would then respond with a thunderous “Amen.” According to Goldsmith, she and her family, as well as the 220 other families who call Itamar home, are constantly asking themselves which mountain’s aura is most present in the community – the one symbolizing God’s blessings or the one representing His curses. On the surface, Itamar is a peaceful and quiet mountaintop community nestled in nature, with forests and fields of wildflowers. It’s a utopia where children can leave their bicycles strewn about without fear of having them stolen, and homeowners leave their doors unlocked without worrying about burglary. However, over the past 12 years, Itamar – which is surrounded by some of the most hostile Palestinian Authority-controlled Arab villages, just outside the ancient city of Nablus – has suffered from a slew of terrorist infiltrations, resulting in the murder of 22 of its residents. According to Goldsmith, proportionally speaking, no other community in the entire State of Israel has experienced such loss. While each attack was without doubt heart wrenching, she says, the March 11, 2011, murder of five members of the same family shocked the nation with its brutality. On that nightmarish Friday night, two Arab teenagers from the nearby village of Awarta managed to sneak into Itamar undetected and stabbed/shot dead five members of the Fogel family: Rabbi Ehud (Udi) Fogel, 36, his wife Ruth, 35, and three of their children – Yoav, 11, Elad, four, and Hadas, only three months old. Three of the Fogel children survived the ordeal, as Tamar (now 13) was at a youth group activity while the murders were taking place, and her brothers Ro’ee, nine, and Yishai, three, slept through the attack and went undetected by the terrorists. After their arrests, the perpetrators – 19- year-old Amjad Awad and his 18-year old cousin Hakim Awad, whose families have ties to organized terror organizations – showed no remorse for their actions, claiming they had acted for “Palestine.” They admitted they would also have killed the other two boys if they had known of their presence. Both teens were sentenced in a military court to five consecutive life sentences toward the end of last year. THE FOGELS, who had moved to Itamar after being evacuated from their home in the 2005 disengagement from Gush Katif, were such a positive and influential source of pride and strength in the community, especially for the town’s youth, that well before their murder, their neighborhood became known as the “Fogel neighborhood.” Now, one year later, Itamar’s residents remain scarred by the massacre, but are steadfast in their belief that the best way to keep the Fogels’ memory alive is to continue their Zionist vision of building, planting and flourishing in their community and throughout the Land of Israel. Just last week, on the Hebrew calendar anniversary of their deaths, the community dedicated a new beit midrash (house of study) called Mishkan Ehud (Ehud’s Home) in memory of the Fogels, on the campus of the local yeshiva where Ehud Fogel served as a teacher. On the same day that a somber memorial service took place in the new study hall, attended by government ministers, Knesset members and respected rabbis and dignitaries from around the country, the community held a festive Torah dedication ceremony in the new beit midrash as Israeli flags hung on lampposts throughout the town fluttered in the hilltop’s strong winds, creating a setting reminiscent of Independence Day. “That’s the yin and the yang,” Goldsmith says of the memorial ceremony and the new beit midrash. “It’s the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” A teacher by trade, she has been Itamar’s English-language spokeswoman since 1998, while her husband, Moshe, has served as its elected mayor for the past seven years. The couple made aliya from Brooklyn in 1985, driven by a strong Zionistic pioneering spirit. They have raised five children in the community, and their eldest daughter now lives in Itamar with her husband and the Goldsmiths’ first grandchild. According to Leah, the lead-up to the anniversary of the Fogel massacre was an emotional time for the community’s residents. “Just like around this time last year, the flowers have started to bloom, the sun is beginning to shine again, and everything is green and breathtaking,” she says. “With the setting now starting to look a lot like it did exactly a year ago, the horrible memories have returned.” She recalls that the Sunday morning following the massacre was the most beautiful day of the year, prompting one of her daughters to ask at the time, “How could a day be so beautiful after this nightmare?” While Leah says the people of Itamar are strong, there is no doubt that the children have been traumatized by the various terror attacks over the years. “We had kids sleeping in their parents’ beds for years,” she says. “But when the children matured and entered the army, many joined elite units. That was their way to cope with the terror and the fear – to be the best soldier you can be.” AS THE mayor and a member of Itamar’s first-response security team, Moshe has witnessed many horrific scenes over the years. He says that although there are pockets of quiet, all of the pain and trauma return after each attack. However, the Fogel massacre, “because of its cruelty, shattered the entire world – well, anyone who has a heart,” he says, hinting at the terrorists. Nevertheless, reflecting on the attack one year later, he says his community was able to put itself back together rather quickly. “Our yishuv [settlement] had such an amazing flow before the attack, so [the Fogel massacre] was a big shock,” he recalls. “However, the beauty of this place and its people is that we were able to return to our focus: building the Land of Israel.” He notes a renewed sense of Zionism following the attack. “People started digging deep, taking on new projects to strengthen the social fabric of the community,” he says. “Practically speaking, you see the town growing – people expanding their homes, the new yeshiva building – in short, you see a whole new sense of positive energy and strength. No one was weakened by the attack. We are stronger than ever before in our resolve to make this country flourish.” As such, he sees great potential for his town and feels that one day Itamar will be one of the most important cities in the country. “We are built on a huge piece of land, and centrally located – just an hour from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Beit She’an. I believe we can bring tens of thousands of people to live in this region over the next 10-20 years, truly developing the area.” Despite Moshe’s optimism for Itamar’s future, recent governments, including the current administration under Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, have publicly alluded to dismantling the more isolated communities throughout Judea and Samaria in a future peace deal with the Palestinian Authority. However, Leah doesn’t believe that turning over Itamar to the PA is a realistic option. As she often tells foreign journalists who ask her about Itamar’s future, “you can cut off a foot if a body is ailing. Israel tried that for peace when over 8,000 people were thrown out of their homes in Gush Katif. You can do the same to a hand and any other extremity, like the government did in [northern Samaria]. In the case of the Gush Katif expulsion, it only made things worse when missiles began landing in Yavne and Beersheba. I highly doubt that Itamar, whose strategic location represents the heart of the body of Israel, will ever be cut out – that would mean we’re all dead and done for.” ON A tour of the community, she points out a key IDF intelligence installation located on one of Itamar’s hilltops. Thanks to that facility, she says, the IDF has been successful in thwarting many terror attacks originating from the Nablus area, which was deemed a major launch pad for terror throughout the second intifada. Just past the IDF installation is an enormous familyowned and -operated organic farm, which produces freerange eggs, flour and a wide variety of dairy products. Leah remarks that while some in the Tel Aviv area may be against her presence over the so-called Green Line, “they are the same people who buy and enjoy our fresh organic yogurts and other products the most.” She continues the tour, pointing out the various neighborhoods where diverse populations live side-by-side in harmony. There is a neighborhood of Breslov Hassidim next to a group of homes owned by Russian immigrants, followed by a hilltop where followers of Chabad have settled. The furthest hill from the center of the community, known as Hill 777, is populated by a mix of religious and secular people from all over the country. Batsheva Shalev is a young dance instructor who teaches jazz and modern dance in the Center of the country. She moved to Hill 777 with her husband and young son from Ra’anana a year and a half ago. Her family is not observant, she says, but she insists there is a mutual respect among the residents that allows her to be comfortable in her choice of lifestyle. She and her husband were not necessarily looking to live in a “settlement,” but simply wanted to find a rural area and help increase its Jewish presence. When they visited Itamar, it was an instant love affair. Having moved in just several months before the Fogel massacre, Shalev is adamant that Israel’s enemies should know that “you don’t mess with us.” She feels that the people living in Itamar should not just rely on fences or security guards for safety, but should each be vigilant and responsible for their own well-being. That’s why, since coming to Itamar, she has purchased a firearm for protection. “When you live in a bad neighborhood,” she says, referring to nearby Arab villages, “you expect to be mugged. But our enemies need to understand that we are not helpless.” Despite the Fogel attack, she is undeterred and proud of her decision to move to the community. In fact, according to the mayor, 12 new families have moved in since the massacre. Amir Josman and his wife, Miriam, were living in Zichron Ya’acov with their toddler when they were given the bad news about the Fogel family. Ehud Fogel had been Amir’s teacher and a source of spiritual inspiration when he had learned in the Itamar Yeshiva from 2004 to 2007. Amir, a registered tour guide, decided that the family should move to Itamar to “strengthen the community and carry on Rabbi Ehud (Udi’s) legacy of spreading Torah Zionism.” He says he and Miriam “love living in Itamar, since it’s such a warm and united community.” While Yitzchak Weiss and his family have lived in Itamar for six years, he was so touched by the relationship he had with the Fogel family that when his first child was born two months ago, he named him Ori, a combination of the names Udi and Ruth. Weiss is the head of Itamar’s first responders security team, and was one of the first on the scene the night the Fogels’ bodies were found. “The Jewish people have undergone tragedies throughout the generations,” he says, “but this tragedy only makes our connection to our heritage stronger. Following the massacre, the Jewish people were unified as we received support from the entire world. That was Rabbi Udi [of blessed memory]’s mantra, that only through Jewish unity and togetherness could we bring redemption to the world.” Weiss admits to having mixed emotions leading up to the anniversary of the Fogel murder, even as he takes part in the dedication of the new beit midrash. He expresses his feelings by citing a passage that Sephardim recite as part of the Yom Kippur service: “The eyes cry bitterly, while the heart expresses joy.” AS THE anniversary of the Fogels’ deaths approaches, and while rain is a much-needed blessing, the scheduled festive procession to bring the new Torah from the family’s now-empty house to the beit midrash has been canceled. The route was supposed to have traversed a brand new NIS 2 million road the government approved thanks to efforts that Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz made in response to the attack. The new road connects the “Fogel neighborhood” to the Or Shalem neighborhood, which houses the yeshiva. Leah Goldsmith is optimistic that the new road and its infrastructure indicate that this section of the community will one day be lined with new homes. Just before the more than 1,000 guests arrive to take part in the memorial and, due to the weather, an indoor dedication ceremony, members of the extended Fogel family begin to arrive – some visiting the newly completed building for the first time. From their joyful demeanor as they tour the main study hall and side classrooms, each named in memory of one of the victims, one could easily forget that they were commemorating their loved ones’ yahrzeits. Young Tamar Fogel bounces around the rooms with an old friend from Itamar. Since the massacre, she, Ro’ee and Yishai have been living in Jerusalem with their maternal grandparents, Rabbi Yehuda and Tali Ben- Yishai. According to Yochai Ben-Yishai, Ruth Fogel’s older brother, who lives in Beit Rimon, the children “have a tremendous family support system that has been with them throughout this painful ordeal.” He does admit, though, that Tamar misses her friends and community in Itamar. As Ruth’s father inspects the beautiful ark at the front of the new study hall, various media outlets approach him to hear his thoughts and emotions. “I feel their presence here,” he says of his slain daughter and son in-law, adding, “One day they will dance here with us.”
Shocking Massacre in Itamar
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 By Avi Yishai
In one of the most horrific terrorist attacks in recent years, a father, mother and three young hildren were murdered in their home last Shabbos in the northern West Bank community of Itamar, not far from Sh’chem. The victims were Rabbi Udi Fogel, hy”d, 36, his wife Rut, hy”d, 35, along with their three-month-old infant girl, Hadas, hy”d, and two boys, Elad, hy”d, 4, and Yoav, hy”d, 11.
They were brutally stabbed to death by two terrorists who had jumped the town’s security fence. The electronic sensors in the fence registered the intrusion, but a security guard who investigated dismissed it as a false alarm. The terrorists also broke into the empty house of a neighbor who was on vacation before entering the Fogel home.
The terrorists overlooked two other Fogel boys, Ro’i, 8, and Yishai, 2 who were asleep when their home was invaded. The third Fogel child to survive was their 12 year-old-daughter, Tamar, who was at the house of a neighbor, Rabbi and Mrs. Yaakov Cohen when the attack took place. She was the first to discover that something was wrong when she went home later and was surprised to find the front door locked.
They were brutally stabbed to death by two terrorists who had jumped the town’s security fence. The electronic sensors in the fence registered the intrusion, but a security guard who investigated dismissed it as a false alarm. The terrorists also broke into the empty house of a neighbor who was on vacation before entering the Fogel home.
The terrorists overlooked two other Fogel boys, Ro’i, 8, and Yishai, 2 who were asleep when their home was invaded. The third Fogel child to survive was their 12 year-old-daughter, Tamar, who was at the house of a neighbor, Rabbi and Mrs. Yaakov Cohen when the attack took place. She was the first to discover that something was wrong when she went home later and was surprised to find the front door locked.
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At the kevurah on Har Hamenuchos. –AFP/Getty Images
The evening had started with an Oneg Shabbos for Tamar and her friends, including Rabbi Cohen’s daughter, at the Fogel home, including a dvar Torah given by Rut Fogel. The Oneg broke up around 10 pm, and as was the custom, the girls walked one another to their homes. When Tamar finally returned to her house after 12, she was surprised to find muddy tracks, and the front door to the house locked.
She then returned to the Cohen home and asked her friend to wake her father, who is a rebbi at a yeshiva in Itamar, and ask him for help.
“The girls woke me up, I grabbed a weapon in case it was necessary, and when we got to the house we saw traces of mud everywhere,”Rabbi Cohen said.
They then saw through a window Tamar’s brother Ro’i, sleeping on the couch in the living room, and made enough noise to wake him up. When he came to the door to let his sister in, Rabbi Cohen turned around and returned home, thinking that the situation was resolved. He returned moments later when Tamar discovered the massacre and ran from the house, shreiking.
Cohen at first did not think the incident was terrorist-related, “but when the daughter entered and screamed in horror, I realized something terrible had happened. I fired two bullets into the air to alert the security guards, searched the house and found the boy who opened the door, and the two-year-old who was sleeping in the parents’ room.”
A HORRIFIC SCENE
First aid paramedics rushed to the scene, and were confronted with a horrific scene of bloody slaughter. Paramedic Kabaha Muayua described what he saw: “We could not help the first four stabbing victims. Following an inspection of the scene I spotted a young child (Elad) who still had a pulse. We engaged in lengthy resuscitation efforts but had to pronounce him dead. The murder scene was shocking. Kids’ toys right next to pools of blood.”
The two parents and the three-month-old baby were found in the master bedroom. According to the army and Shin Bet, the terrorists entered the home through the picture window in the living room, overlooked the child sleeping on the couch under some blankets, and entered the master bedroom. The terrorists first attacked the father, and the infant sleeping in the father’s bed, slashing their throats.
Apparently, the mother was in the bathroom at the time. She was attacked when she opened the bathroom door, and after trying to fight back, fell mortally wounded at the threshhold.
The terrorists then murdered the 11-year-old who was reading in his bed, and stabbed the 4-year-old boy twice in the chest. The terrorists locked the front door and left the way they came. They then escaped over the same point of the electronic security fence where they had entered, more than two and a half hours earlier, still undetected by the town’s security force.
Army trackers did not arrive at the scene until more than an hour after the terrorists escaped. They found tracks leading to the nearby Arab village of Avrata. By that time, the murderers were long gone.
ITAMAR’S HISTORIC VIEW
Itamar is one of four West Bank communities, including Bracha,Yitzhar and Elon Moreh, located on mountainsides overlooking Har Grizim and Har Eval. In addition to its yeshivos, the town is known as a center of organic farming, whose products are marketed all over Israel. Many residents earn their living by raising olives, goats and sheep, and by marketing derivative products, such as cheese and olive oil.
The Fogel family had originally lived in the Gaza community of Netzarim. After they were removed from their home during the 2005 disengagement, they moved to Ariel and then to Itamar. Rabbi Fogel was a rebbe in the Yeshiva Gavoah of Rabbi Avichai Ronsky, former Chief Rabbi of the Israeli Army. His wife, Ruti was a teacher in the nearby settlement of Ma’ale Levonah.
PREVIOUS ATTACKS
The town has been the target of major attacks before. In June, 2002, a terrorist armed with an assault rifle entered Itamar and barricaded himself in the home of the Sabo family. He shot and killed Rachel Sabo, hy”d, and three of her seven children, Neriya, hy”d, age 15, Tzvi, hy”d, age 12, and Avishai, hy”d, age 5. Yossi Twito, hy”d, who commanded the settlement’s security team, was also shot to death when he arrived and charged toward the Sabo house during the attack.
The previous month, another terrorist infiltrated the settlement’s fence. He reached the basketball court of Itamar’s Chitzim yeshiva high school, where he shot and killed Gilad Stieglitz, hy”d, a 14-year-old talmid, and wounded another student. The terrorist then entered the yeshiva building, where he shot and killed two more talmidim, Netanel Riachi, hy”d, and Avraham Siton, hy”d. The terrorist was eventually shot and killed by one of the yeshiva’s dorm counselors.
In July 2002, a terrorist armed with two knives broke into the home of David and Orna Mimran and tried to stab them. Although wounded, they successfully fought back and survived. The terrorist was ultimately shot and killed by an army officer.
The only other major terrorist incident after that took place in August 2004, when Shlomo Miller, who had replaced Twito as the town’s security coordinator, was shot and killed by an Arab.
NEW SECURITY ARRANGEMENTTS
After the 2002 attacks, Itamar’s security was beefed up with an advanced electronic security surveillance fence, as well as an inner barbed wire fence. The fences are patrolled and maintained by settlement security officials and six private security guards, including two on duty at a central security office, to monitor the fence sensors.
Since the 2006 Second Lebanon War, the army has significantly reduced the size of its forces on active duty in the West Bank at any one time, in light of the significant reduction of the number of terrorist attacks, and the need for more soldier training time.
Today, army patrols in the West Bank are designed to maintain “peripheral security,” between settlements, while leaving routine patrols within settlement boundaries to their own security guards. However, army forces are supposed to be nearby at all times and arrive within minutes when local security guards raise the alarm that an intrusion has taken place.
Settlements are usually patrolled by civilian security teams, reinforced by private guards from companies such as Modi’in Ezrachi. Because Itamar is so close to Sh’chem, and near a number of hostile Arab villages, its six-man security team is larger than those found in most settlements.
MOST RECENT ATTACKS HAVE BEEN BY AMATEURS
Over the past two years, most West Bank terrorist attacks have been carried out by individual Arabs with little skill or training The Army and Shin Bet have succeeded in capturing or killing most of the wanted terrorists in the area, in part thanks to the increased security cooperation of the Palestinian Authority.
In recent weeks, friction between the Jews and Arabs on the West Bank had increased, leading to warnings by army and security experts of an increased likelihood of a terrorist attack.
NOT ANOTHER FALSE ALARM
On Friday night, the initial breach of the security fence was registered at the central control room at 8:59 pm. One of the private guards was sent to the site to look for a cut in the fence, but the terrorists had jumped over the fence. The guard found no signs of infiltration and decided that it was a false alarm. The same thing happened at midnight, when the terrorists left. Army troops who were stationed on the next hill just a half-mile away were not summoned until Rabbi Cohen raised the alarm a half hour later.
According to a man who used to work as a security guard in Itamar, hundreds of false alarms are set off by the fence each month, especially during the winter. They are triggered by the wind, rain, tree branches or animals. “You can’t treat them all seriously and call in the army every time,” he said. Standard procedure called for a local army company commander and a tracker to be called in to determine if a terrorist infiltration has taken place.
A NARROW ESCAPE FOR TWO OTHER COUPLES
Army trackers later discovered that the Fogel house was not the original target of the terrorists. After penetrating the security fence, they first entered the home of the Chai family, who were away in Yerushalayim. Two other couples had planned to stay in the Chai home over Shabbos to join in the birthday celebration of a neighbor. However, both couples cancelled at the last minute, one because the husband, who was serving in the army, could not get a pass to leave his base, and the other because the wife, who was in the seventh month of pregnancy, had taken ill, and was hospitalized as a medical precaution. As a result of that Yad Hashem, that house was empty when the terrorists broke in, and both couples escaped the tragic fate of the Fogels.
The husband of the woman who spent Shabbos in the hospital, attended the levaya for the Fogels Sunday, and said that he was going to bench gomel Monday, “because we were only a few hours away from crossing between life and death.” [This is not a halachic ruling.]
Even paramedic veterans of the intifada were shocked by the brutality of the attack on the Fogel family. The army said that it was so outraged by the viciousness of the attack that they would not ask the Palestinian Authority for assistance in tracking down the terrorists responsible. In the past, when PA forces apprehended wanted terrorists, they held them only briefly in jail, and then quietly let them go. The army does not want those responsible for this heinous act to ever be let go.
INSINCERE CONDEMNATIONS
The Palestinian Authority leadership, including PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad issued unconvincing condemnations of the attack, based upon their disapproval of all violence that targets civilians, “regardless of who was behind it or the reason for it.” But that was not nearly good enough to satisfy outraged Israelis.
Prime Minister Netanyahu angrily rejected the “weak and mumbled” statements of regret issued by PA leaders immediately after receiving word of the Fogel murder as totally insufficient. “This is not the way to condemn or fight terrorism,” Netanyahu said. He condemned those nations that always rush to the UN Security Council to condemn Israel whenever “it planned a house or laid a tile somewhere,” but are silent when the time comes to issue a “strong condemnation of the murder of Jewish babies. I expect them to issue this condemnation immediately, without balance, without understanding, without justification, because there is no justification, no excuse and no forgiveness for the murder of babies,” he said.
OUTRAGEOUS MEDIA COVERAGE
Of course, Netanyahu wasn’t really expecting the nations of the world to react appropriately to the horrific murder of an innocent Jewish family, and anybody who did was, once again, sorely disappointed. Most of the international news media virtually ignored the attack. The Associated Press used its coverage to suggest that the Fogel family along with the other residents of Itamar are some of Israel’s “most radical settlers,” implying approval of their killing. The AP story also was careful to describe the incident as “killings” rather than the cold blooded murder of parent and children in their beds. The BBC coverage also misleadingly suggested that the terrorists deliberately “spared” the two Fogel children in the house who survived, rather than simply having overlooked them.
NETANYAHU REJECTS ABBAS’ CONDOLENCE CALL
The Israeli prime minister later received a condolence call from Abbas, the first direct conversation between the two men in months. But Netanyahu was still furious with the Palestinian leader. He told Abbas that it was insufficient to condemn such attacks only because they “are against Palestinian interests” – as the Palestinians have done many times before. Netanyahu angrily insisted that Abbas must clearly condemn such attacks simply because “the murder of children in their sleep” is morally unacceptable.
The prime minister noted that while Abbas and Fayyad make moderate sounding statements intended for international consumption, they continue to permit and even encourage anti-Jewish incitement in Palestinian society and the PA-controlled media. “A society that allows wild incitement like this, leads to the murder of children,” Netanyahu said.
NETANYAHU’S OUTRAGE
In a stern and somber broadcast speech to the nation on Motzoei Shabbos, Netanyahu voiced his “deep outrage” over the slaughter of the Fogel family “I demand that the PA stop the incitement taking place daily in its schools, mosques, and in the media it controls. The time has come to stop this double talk.”
The military arm of Abbas’ own Fatah faction, known as the Al Aqsa Brigades, later issued a statement claiming responsibility for the brutal slaughter of the Fogel family. It called the attack a “heroic operation” and justified it as a “natural response” to “Israeli crimes of occupation in the West Bank and Gaza.” It inaccurately said that the “combatant” who “killed all five Zionists who were in the house . . . “returned home safely after conducting his mission successfully.”
In the streets of the southern Gaza city of Rafiach, under the control of Hamas, there was, at least, no attempt to hide the feelings of the people. They celebrated the news of the murder of the Fogel family with joyous street demonstrations and the distribution of candy and sweets.
Army Chief of Staff, General Benny Gantz, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, as well as the director of the Shin Bet, Yuval Diskin, promised to do everything possible to catch the terrorists responsible for the attack. General Gantz said, “We will not rest until the murderers are in our hands. This is a bestial act perpetrated by barbarians. It is impossible to grasp the horrendous scene before us. We are working non-stop on the intelligence and operational fronts.”
CONSOLING THE FAMILY
Netanyahu offered the country’s condolences, “supporting and embracing” the survivors, relatives and friends of the Fogel family, and “our brothers, the residents of West Bank. He urged them to “not let their spirits falter,” and promised that “first and foremost security and Israel, not terrorism, will determine the final settlement map.” He also called for “restraint and responsibly” by those who mourned the murder of the Fogels, and warned them not to try to take the law into their own hands.
Netanyahu also spoke after Shabbos with Udi’s father, Chaim Fogel, one of the founders of the West Bank settlement of Neve Tzuf, who will be raising his son’s surviving children. The prime minister promised to do everything possible to help the family, and to follow their progress personally. The prime minister was also menachem avel, personally visiting the father of Rut Fogel, Rabbi Yehuda Ben-Yishai, who was formerly a rebbi at Machon Meir in Yerushalayim.
The mourning father and grandfather of the victims said that the prime minister told him that “he felt great sorrow and that the entire people of Israel are part of that sorrow.” Then the two men hugged each other.
President Shimon Peres characterized the killings as “one of the most ugliest and most despicable events I have ever seen.” He added that, “the murder of parents and their very young children in their beds on Shabbos, indicates a loss of humanity. There is no religion in the world or any faith that allows for such atrocious acts. There are no words of consolation in the face of this devastation. Our hearts are with the orphans and with the community of Itamar during this extremely difficult time.”
A NATION MOURNS
The levaya for the victims Sunday afternoon in Yerushalayaim was attended by tens of thousands of people. The crowds of people coming to attend from around the country forced police to block the main entrance to the city
Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger told the mourners that “the murderers did succeed, but only in uniting us. No one can remain apathetic” after this outrage, he said.
He said that the most appropriate response to the attack was to continue building Jewish homes in Yerushalayim and the West Bank.
Former Chief Rabbi of Israel Yisrael Meir Lau said, “There are times when there are no words and when one feels helpless with pain and anger. . . What can you say when you see a three-month-old baby stabbed to death? We read the start of Sefer Vayikra this past Shabbos that begins with sacrifices, but who thought of sacrifices such as these?”
Rabbi Lau then turned to the surviving Fogel children and said, “Your mother and father need you. You are the ones who will say the Kaddish for them.”
Hillel Ben Yishai, the brother of Rut Fogel, sobbed that the victims were “holy and pure and the Jewish people will come to know who they were – holy and pure. No one was sweet as Hadas,” the baby daughter of the Fogels who was among those murdered. “The people of Israel are strong, like Rut, an iron lady,” he added.
Vice Premier Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon read from a paper, condemning the Palestinian Authority and its “education of violence,” teaching their children that “from the Jordan [River] to the sea, Jews have no rights,” was the root cause of the attack in Itamar. He also predicted that the PA will show its true colors by treating the murderers of the Fogel family as heroes, naming city squares after them, and that this makes any peace agreement signed with these Palestinian leaders worthless.
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said that as revenge for the murder of the Fogels, “we will live, we will continue to build and to plant, we will continue to hold onto Israel: in Itamar, in Beit Chagai, in Chevron and Yerushalayim, everywhere and at any time.”
THE COURAGE TO PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH
Surprisingly, Rabbi Ben Yishai agreed to a radio interview the morning after the levaya. When he was asked why, he responded, “I have worked in education many years, and as an educator, I try to strengthen and teach people faith. I understand that I cannot be satisfied with words and that I also must implement the same principles on which I have educated others. This is a test of my faith, and therefore I agreed to be interviewed.”
He added that his family and the parents of Udi Fogel “will take upon ourselves the difficult task and pave a path for their grandchildren so that their lives will be victorious. Their mother and father will pray for them from Heaven, their grandfathers and grandmothers will give them a lot of love, and the people of Israel will hug them and encourage them to grow and continue in the path of their parents.”
Rabbi Ben Yishai also said that he was grateful that he and his wife were away when police came to their home to inform them of the killings, so that the terrible news was not able to shter their Shabbos.
As Udi Fogel’s parents sat shiva in their home in Neve Tsuf, his father, Chaim recalled the terrible night when authorities came to his home to tell him the news, and then brought him to his son’s house so he could bring home his surviving grandchildren. Chaim’s mother recalled the last time she saw her son and his family, when they got together to celebrate Rosh Chodesh Adar II. “At least they had a taste of Purim,” she said.
Also, the eldest surviving daughter of the family, 12-year-old Tamar, promised her relatives, “I will be strong and succeed in overcoming this. I understand the task that stands before me, and I will be a mother to my siblings.”
WHITE HOUSE STATEMENT
The day after the assault, the White House issued a statement saying, “we call on the Palestinian Authority to unequivocally condemn this terrorist attack and for the perpetrators of this heinous crime to be held accountable.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the murder of five Israelis in a terrorist attack in the northern West Bank, and we offer our condolences to their loved ones and to the Israeli people. There is no possible justification for the killing of parents and children in their home.”
UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon issued a statement condemning the attack.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the “friends and relatives of the family killed in Itamar have my deepest sympathies,” and that “this was an act of incomprehensible cruelty and brutality which I utterly condemn.”
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle condemned the “cruel and heinous” slayings, saying “nothing can justify such attacks.”
France’s foreign minister, Alain Juppe, said France “condemns all acts of violence in the occupied territories and calls for maximum restraint in order to prevent deterioration in the situation.”
Quartet special envoy Tony Blair, the former prime minister of Great Britain, said “this brutal and appalling murder is shocking and deplorable,” and sent his “deepest condolences and sympathy to those remaining members of the family and to the community.”
BUILDING IN THEIR MEMORY
On Motzoei Shabbos, Netanyahu and Barak convened a special ministerial committee to decide on an appropriately symbolic action in response to the attack on Itamar. The ministers agreed to approve the construction of 500 new Jewish homes in the major West Bank settlement blocks. The Israeli government then informed the White House of the decision, as a fait accompli, over the inevitable objections of Palestinian Authority officials.
In Washington, a State Department spokesman said that the US government was “deeply concerned” over the announcement that more Jewish housing in the West Bank had been approved. The spokesman reiterated the position that Israeli settlements are “illegitimate” and “run counter to efforts to resume direct negotiations” between Israelis and Palestinians. However, Netanyahu’s spokesman said that since the new construction was to take place in areas of the West Bank which Israel is expected to keep, it posed “no contradiction” to peace efforts which have been stalled since September by the Palestinian refusal to participate in direct negotiations.
During the ministerial meeting, Defense Minister Barak argued against several alternatives, such as starting a new settlement, or expanding Itamar, which is not within the major settlement blocs that are expected to remain in Israel’s permanent control.
The newly approved housing projects are to be built in Ma’aleh Adumim, Ariel, the communities in Gush Etzion, and Kiryat Sefer. New construction of Jewish housing has resumed in the West Bank at a brisk pace since the expiration of the voluntary construction freeze in September, but those were all for the thousands of building projects which had already received final government approval. The action of the ministerial committee was the first time since the freeze expired that the government has approved new building plans in the West Bank.
POLITICAL REACTIONS
Reaction to the attack from other Israeli political leaders fell along predictable ideological lines. Right wing figures, such as National Infrastructures Minister Uzi Landau and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein placed the responsibility upon Abbas and the PA educational system that teaches “hatred of Jews and presents child killers as role models,” discrediting the PA as a legitimate partner for peace.
Likud MK Danny Danon blamed the attack on Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s “lax security policies in the West Bank,” and his “irresponsible removal of checkpoints and the abdication of our security needs to the Palestinian Authority. . . Barak should be concentrating on protecting the citizens of Israel and not pressuring Prime Minister Netanyahu into ill-advised ‘peace’ plans,” Danon said.
Ariel Mayor Ron Nachman put some of the blame for the attack on left wing Israeli newspapers for “separating settlers from Israelis living on the other side of the Green Line.”
On the left end of the Israeli political spectrum, Labor MK Isaac Herzog argued that the attack in Itamar should not be allowed to achieve its goal of “preventing diplomatic progress” or used as an “excuse by the prime minister for not presenting a diplomatic plan.”
Meretz’s Nitzan Horowitz said that the attack “undermines the deep interest of both peoples in peace and security, and the need to do everything to renew the diplomatic process.”
Tzipi Livni, the head of the opposition Kadima party, had the good sense to avoid trying to take partisan advantage of the attack. She called for the nation’s sympathy for the Fogel family and supporting army actions against terrorism.
CARRYING ON FOR THE FOGELS IN ITAMAR
Leah Goldsmith, one of the leaders of Itamar, said that she and her husband, Rabbi Moshe Goldsmith, remain optimistic about the community’s future, despite the killing of the Fogels, and other casualties it has suffered due to terrorist attacks over the years. The Goldsmiths are Americans who first came to Itamar 15 years ago. He is the mayor of the town, and one of the founders of Yeshivat Chitzim.
She recalled that, in 2002, when three boys from her husband’s yeshiva were killed by a terrorist, “we thought that was the end of the school. What parent would want to send their children to study here? But soon after, the school quadrupled its student body.”
She says that Itamar is full of idealistic people like the Fogels. Yitzchak Shadmi, a longtime friend of the Fogel family, described Udi Fogel as a brilliant student who “could have been a scientist, but chose to be a Torah educator instead.”
Mrs. Goldsmith is particularly annoyed by the tendency of the Israeli media to describe Itamar as a “peripheral” community. “We are exactly one hour away from Yerushalayim and the large metropolitan area around Tel Aviv on the coastal plain. On the map we are at the geographical center point of Israel. That is anything but peripheral.”
Categories
Eliyahu Asheri
Thursday, June 29, 2006 / 3 Tammuz 5766 Funeral of Murdered 18-Year-Old Eliyahu Asheri
Arutz 7: Thousands of people, including both chief rabbis and other notables, attended the funeral of Eliyahu Asheri, kidnapped and murdered by Arab terrorists. Arutz-7 brings photos from the funeral.
Roads in Jerusalem were closed in honor of the funeral, which is to end with the youth’s burial in the Mt. of Olives cemetery.
Eliyahu’s teachers and family, one after the other, spoke about what a sweet person he was. Over and over it was mentioned that Eliyahu’s prayers were “like fire.”
“You went up to Heaven in a storm, like Eliyahu (Elijah) the prophet,” Eliyahu’s mother Miriam eulogized, in a calm and determined voice. “Now, Eliyahu – stand before G-d and speak out in favor of the Nation of Israel – don’t let up until our Father in Heaven agrees to reveal Himself to His people.”
Yitro Asheri spoke of his son, recalling that he would always sit in their home and make peace between his siblings. “When you get to Heaven,” the Australian immigrant said, addressing his son, “make peace within our people and between the Nation of Israel and our Father in Heaven.”
Asheri added that the world has much less prayer in it now that Eliyahu is gone and implored all of Israel to “Pray! Pray – because you are righteous and G-d desires your prayers.”
Eliyahu had not been seen since Sunday night, and only Monday afternoon did it become fairly clear that he had been kidnapped. By then, however, he was already dead – even while volunteers searched throughout Judea and Samaria for traces of his presence. In the end, it was the murderer himself who led the Israeli security authorities to the body, in a field outside Ramallah, north of Jerusalem.
The terrorist was among those apprehended in a round of IDF arrests made throughout Judea and Samaria on Wednesday. He was interrogated by the General Security Services, during which he revealed how and where he and his gang members shot Eliyahu in the head from close range, shortly after they abducted him on Sunday night.
Others connected to the kidnapping and murder are still being interrogated.
Eliyahu’s mother Miriam told Voice of Israel Radio this morning,
“At this time, I do have not much to say, for the pain is so unbearable; I can barely find a way to hold it. But one thing I can say is that many times in the past years, because of the many disagreements-between-brothers we have in this country, many times I asked G-d to give me, first of all, love in my heart for everyone. And now, following this terrible thing that happened to us, it has become clear to me how really great the Nation of Israel is – how much help we have received, and all the volunteers, and the army – there are no words to describe it… And this was the way of Eliyahu as well…”
The IDF did not say whether the assault rifles which the Olmert government and the United States transferred to Abu Mazen earlier this month were used at any point in the kidnapping or murder. WorldNetDaily reported in the name of “sources close to the Al Aqsa Brigades” that the guns had been used in two separate shooting attacks against Israelis within days of the transfer.
Rabbi Avi Ronski, the Rabbi of Itamar and the man who has been tapped to become the next Chief Rabbi of the IDF, was informed of the news at 2 AM this morning (Thursday). He called Rabbi Chaim Druckman, the national head of the Bnei Akiva Yeshivot movement and Eliyahu’s adopted grandfather, and the two of them made their way to the Asheri family. Family members and friends began streaming to the house after the information became known.
Rabbi Druckman said at the funeral that sometimes funerals are like sunsets, but that Eliyahu’s passing is like the sun going dark at noontime. “This is not just a private funeral, but one belonging to all of Israel,” he said. “His murderers intended to kill any one of us and all of us.”
Eliyahu, 18, was from the Shomron town of Itamar and was a student at the pre-military yeshiva academy in N’vei Tzuf, in the western Binyamin area. He was last seen at 9 PM Sunday at the French Hill junction in northern Jerusalem, where hundreds of people wait for rides northward every day.
Rabbi Ronsky said, “It is now clear that they murdered Eliyahu very soon after they kidnapped him, and all their announcements and threats afterwards were merely psychological pressure against us.”
The Popular Resistance Committees of Ramallah, under the supervision of the terrorist group of the same name in Gaza, announced Monday –
after Eliyahu was already dead – that they would murder him if Israel did not withdraw its forces from Gaza.
| Murdered settler teen mourned The Israeli community owes him. We all owe him. He was one of society’s best,’ Rabbi Nissim mourns untimely death of Eliyahu Asheri, 18, whose body was found shot to death in Ramallah Thursday Efrat Weiss YNetSpeaking Thursday morning after the discovery of the murder of Eliyahu Asheri, 18 from Itamar, his teacher Rabbi Yitzhak Nissim said, “We lost one of the best boys. The contrast between his goodness and radiant smile and the evil and cruelty of the other side is so extreme.” Rabbi Nissim heads the pre-military Tzufit preparatory academy, where Eliyahu was a student.Thursday morning, Eliyahu’s parents, Yitro and Miriam, and his four siblings, were given the bitter news of his death.
Rabbi Nissim arrived at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine in Abu Kabir Thursday to identify the boy’s body. He told Ynet, “Early this morning, Itamar Rabbi Avi Ronsky contacted me, after receiving news of Eliyahu’s death. We decided that he would go to the family’s home and I went to the Forensic Medicine Institute.” He recalled Eliyahu as a smiley, optimistic and quiet youth. “The Israeli community owes him. We all owe him. He was one of society’s best,” Rabbi Nissim said. “He loved to help people; he was a person of faith and roots regarding the state and land of Israel. Eliyah came to preparatory program to build himself up before his military service. He had one more year left.” Itamar’s 14th casualty A heavy cloud of mourning descended on Itamar, when bitter news of Eliyahu’s death and the discovery of his body reached residents of the Samaria settlement. The family was informed towards morning by rabbis Avi Ronsky and Haim Druckman, who arrived at their home in Itamar to inform them of their son’s murder. The two rabbis have been accompanying the family over the past few agonizing days and were the ones who first received the dreaded report from the IDF and police. Eliyahu Asheri is the 14th victim of Palestinian terrorism to be buried by residents of Itamar in the last few years. Thursday at 6:00 a.m. a morning prayer service was held at the Itamar synagogue. At 7:00 a.m. the message was released by beeper to community residents (each family has a beeper to keep informed of settlement news) informing of Eliyahu’s death. Commander of the Judea and Samaria Division Brig. Gen. Yair Golan and Commander of the Samaria Brigade Col. Yuval Bazak arrived at the settlement Thursday morning and met with the secretariat to explain details of the boy’s murder. Afterwards they went to the Asheri home to break the difficult news to his family. Naveh said that Eliyahu was shot to death at close range on Sunday, shortly after he was kidnapped. “The abduction of Eliyahu Asheri took place on Sunday evening when he was on his way from the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem to the settlement of Ofra. He was murdered at the time of the kidnapping or shortly after, and his body was buried in Ramallah. He was shot at short range with a handgun,” Naveh said. “Eliyahu was kidnapped by operatives from Ramallah connected with the Popular Resistance Committees. We begin investigations into the incident on Monday after the PRC’s announcement. On Tuesday suspicions grew stronger after the family’s report that their son was missing – on Monday we had done initial checks and no one had been reported missing.”
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Yitro Asheri: God wanted my son up there Following arrest of his son’s murderers, Eliyahu Asheri’s father tells Ynet family has paid dearest price there is; calls on international community to ‘check your conscience with a dense comb, as you may have helped terror organizations’ Efrat Weiss YNet
Following the arrest of his son’s murderers, Eliyahu Asheri’s father Yitro told Ynet on Tuesday that “the fact my son was kidnapped can be defined as a command from above. It appears God wanted my son up there to defend the people of Israel.”
Eliyahu Asheri was kidnapped at the beginning of last week on his way to his home in the West Bank settlement of Itamar, and his body was found on Thursday in a Ramallah neighborhood. The three murderers surrendered to Israel Defense Forces soldiers after three hours of hiding in a Ramallah police station, where they were held by the Palestinian police.
Brigadier General Yair Golan, commander of the West Bank military division, arrived at the Asheri family home Tuesday afternoon in order to describe the affair to the family members.
According to the father Yitro, the family found comfort in the fact that their son is now speaking positively about the Land of Israel.
“The price we paid is terrible, no one asks for such a thing to happen to him, but this is God’s will. We have paid the dearest price there is. The recent prayers have not been for nothing, they elevate the people of Israel’s situation. The people have to understand what is the gift of the Land of Israel that God gave. The people of Israel are in need of education and love and we must educate them,” he said.
The father said that he began fearing for his son’s life on Monday evening, when there were reports on a kidnapped settler.
“We didn’t call Eliyahu at the moment, we called the head of the preparatory program in the morning. We started making phone calls and filed a police complaint,” he recounted.
Yitro Asheri asked to deliver a message to the international community: “Check your conscience with a dense comb, as you mat have assisted those terror organizations.”
Shot at close range
In a statement summarizing the IDF’s recent activities in Ramallah, which included the capture of the murderers of Itamar youth Eliyahu Asheri, Central Command Chief Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh said: “We were not able to bring back the boy, but we did close the case. Everyone knew that the IDF would find the perpetrators anywhere.”
The major general went on to say that the terrorists’ preliminary description of the events matches the one given to questioners by another member of their cell who was captured last week by SWAT forces.
“Eliyahu Asheri was kidnapped in the Ofrah junction and brought to Ramallah, where another three Palestinians joined the group. One of them shot him with a pistol at close range, using a pillow to muffle the sound. Afterwards, he was buried in the ground and members of the cell scattered in order to avoid detection.
According to Naveh, there was never the intention to conduct negotiations for the kidnapped youth, even when he was still assumed to be alive.
The Funeral Olmert Ignored Judy Lash Balint Jewish Press
June 29: This afternoon, Eliyahu Pinchas Asheri – son, brother, grandson, yeshiva student, friend – was buried on the Mount of Olives, the oldest Jewish cemetery in the world.
Thousands flocked to the funeral home in Jerusalem’s Sanhedria neighborhood to pay their respects and listen to the eulogies for the 18 year old, who had been shot in the head shortly after he was abducted by Arab terrorists last Sunday. His burned body was found near Ramallah early today.
No government official was anywhere to be seen in the mostly Orthodox crowd. A few public figures, including Knesset member Effie Eitam, Rabbi Yitzhak Levy and former Prisoner of Zion Yosef Mendelevich, were present, but the overwhelming majority of mourners were teenagers, many sporting the orange ribbons of solidarity with the dispossessed of Gush Katif.
All through the eulogies, the sobbing of Eliyahu’s four siblings could be heard over the amplification system. The crowd stood quietly in front of the grey stone funeral hall under the early afternoon sun.
There were no shouts for revenge; no machine guns fired into the air; no religious figures whipping up the crowd into a frenzy of hatred. Only the soft sounds of weeping from dozens of girls and women and the flipping of pages of Tehillim (Psalms) as speaker after speaker poured out anguish at the loss of another young soul to the barbarity of Arab terror.
Several of the rabbis emphasized that the pain of Eliyahu’s loss is not just the pain of the family and those who knew him, but a national pain. ”We here are just representatives of the Jewish people,” said the rabbi of Eliyahu’s community of Itamar. “Everyone must cry out,” he sobbed.
Benzi Lieberman, the head of the Regional Council incorporating Itamar, noted that in the picture circulated after the kidnapping, Eliyahu embodied love of the land. He was pictured sitting on a beautiful hill in Samaria.
Lieberman excoriated the Olmert administration for continuing to push further unilateral withdrawals from Judea and Samaria even after Eliyahu was kidnapped and his fate was unkown. ”Olmert can’t protect our lives in Sderot, Ofra or Itamar,” Lieberman proclaimed. “We who ran out of Gaza, Gaza will run after him…” he added.
The entourage accompanied Eliyahu to his final resting place on the Mount of Olives, overlooking the Temple Mount.
“We’ll continue to build on our only land with your intercession in heaven, Eliyahu. We’ll continue on the process of redemption,” vowed the final euolgizer before Yitro Asheri managed to recite the first Kaddish for his first-born son.
The Asheris Mourn their Son Eliyahu Arutz Sheva
Nestled on a hillside in the Shomron village of Itamar, Miriam and Yitro Asheri, parents of Eliyahu, who was kidnapped and murdered last week, sit on the low chairs of mourners in their living room.
Seated facing them are Public Security Minister Avi Dichter and their neighbor Rabbi Avi Ronsky – the incoming IDF Chief Rabbi – along with several family members and friends who have come to participate in the traditional mourning.
The visitors crane their necks to hear the conversation between the bereaved parents and Dichter, who formerly headed the General Security Service (Shabak). Both mother and father are soft-spoken, but Yitro looks in Dichter’s eyes and asks earnestly, “The land belongs to the Jewish nation; when will we begin to act accordingly?”
Dichter, wearing a kippa, nods and lowers his eyes, promising to bring to justice everyone responsible for Eliyahu’s murder. He was not just saying it; less than 24 hours later, three of the men who murdered Eliyahu were taken into custody.
Miriam looks strong and resolute, just as she did on national television in the days when her son’s kidnappers’ false claims that Eliyahu was still alive were being used in a vain attempt to induce the IDF to leave Gaza. She had addressed her son’s captors, reminding them that they too have children.
Now in mourning, Miriam recalls her final moments with her son, including shared words, anecdotes and more distant memories. “Parents should know that every Sabbath eve, when they bless their children, it is a celebration of the gift that G-d has granted you in the past week of having the miracle that is each child,” she tells a neighbor who has come to comfort her.
In Eliyahu’s last conversation with his parents, he mentioned that he had accidentally said vidui, a confessional prayer, on Sunday afternoon, forgetting that it is not recited on the eve of Rosh Chodesh, the first day of the Jewish month. Jews do, however, recite the prayer on their deathbed. “The soul knows everything,” Yitro says.
Itamar was HomeThe Asheris have lived in Itamar for 14 years. For Yitro, Itamar was the final stop on a long journey to Judaism and the Land of Israel. “When I was 12, I sat in church and realized it just wasn’t it,” he recalled. He began exploring Eastern religions seriously when he was 16, and by 22 he had joined an Australian volunteer organization and moved to Papua New Guinea.
After volunteering in New Guinea, he went on to volunteer at an Israeli collective community, the secular Kibbutz Hatzerim. “There I witnessed the simple morality of the kibbutz members, who were not religious but had a deep moral way about them,” Yitro said.
“A salami was stolen from the kitchen one night and it was proposed that the storage room be locked. It was voted down because they said, ‘How can we live together if we don’t trust one another.’ I began asking people where Jewish morality comes from and was eventually given a copy of Pirkei Avot [Ethics of our Fathers – a mishnaic tract recording lessons in ethics from the foremost conveyors of Torah throughout the generations –ed.]. It was like water for a thirsty heart.”
Yitro returned to Adelaide, Australia, where he began studying Judaism, but was encouraged by members of the small Jewish community to return to Israel as soon as possible to learn more. He went to the religious Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu, which had a conversion program as well as an intensive Hebrew study program.
Yitro knew Israel was now his home and went on to study in Jerusalem’s Machon Meir yeshiva. There he was introduced to Miriam, who had recently become observant and was very close with the family of Rabbi Chaim Druckman, who heads the Bnei Akiva school system and introduced the two.
While in Machon Meir, Yitro was given his first taste of the mountains of Samaria. He and a handful of fellow students came to the nascent Itamar to plant the first organic crop there – myrtle branches for the Sukkot holiday. They also dug a ritual bath that today serves the entire community. After living in Kiryat Malachi for a few years, the Asheris moved to Itamar.
A Boy Who Made You JoyousEliyahu was an indigenous member of the Itamar community, hiking every corner of the region while losing some friends to the frequent terrorist attacks that have plagued the small town. He attended elementary school there, went to middle school in neighboring Elon Moreh, and then high school at the prestigious Or Etzion yeshiva high school near Ashkelon.
Today his friends mope about the Asheris’ yard, watching the older visitors talk about Eliyahu with his parents. “He made you literally joyous just by being near him,” a neighbor told Yitro. “The vacuum without him is so strong.”
Eliyahu decided to leave high school a year early and take his matriculation exams while at the Elisha pre-military academy near N’vei Tzuf. Yitro believes his son underwent a transformation during his year at Elisha.
“He just kept removing mask after mask, searching deeper into himself for the genuine real Eliyahu,” Yitro said. He recalls his son’s struggles and growth with the admiration of a father who succeeded in teaching his son to emulate his search and not necessarily his destination. “The irrigated olive tree cannot be compared to the tree that strives for its water,” he says. “Eliyahu struggled for knowledge and dealt with the toughest questions that a human being can face.”
The Sabbath before his murder, the entire Asheri family was together in Itamar. “It was supposed to just be a small thing to celebrate finishing his first year at mechina (pre-military academy), but his older sister said, ‘No way can it just be a small thing,’ and everyone came to the house for Shabbat. In hindsight, it was our parting Shabbat with him.”
The fateful journeyAfter Shabbat, Eliyahu left his home to speak with a close confidant in the Gush Etzion town of Beitar Illit. He left Beitar at 7 PM Sunday night to head toward his pre-military academy, where he and his classmates were to embark on an end-of-the-year hike together in northern Israel.
He arrived at the French Hill hitch-hiking stand in northern Jerusalem at 9 PM and got a ride to the Givat Assaf T-Junction, at the turn-off to Beit El from Highway 60. He then caught another ride to the town of Ofrah. It was at the Ofrah hitching post where Eliyahu was seen getting into a van.
The Arab man driving the van was dressed like a religious Jew, but after turning onto route 465 towards N’vei Tzuf, the driver took an early turn down a side road toward Bir Zeit. Bir Zeit is home to one of the Palestinian Authority’s main universities, built with help from the Israeli government in the hope that it would breed moderation.
Immediately, Asheri was brutally murdered, either in Bir Zeit or in nearby Bituniya. He was shot at close range, with a pillow used to muffle the sound. The terrorists buried him hastily under loose dirt and large stones.
The driver of the vehicle was caught Wednesday, in an IDF operation in Ramallah. Three others were caught several days later.
“We have our pain,” says Yitro, “but we know that G-d has a job for Eliyahu; that He needs him closer for something much more important. We must truly accept the bad just as we thank Him for the good.”
He loved the Land and G-d of IsraelEliyahu Asheri, together with his siblings, were among the thousands of youths who made their way into Gaza despite the IDF-imposed closure ahead of the forced expulsion of Jews from the 21 towns there last summer.
“He was in the synagogue at N’vei Dekalim,” his father recalls. “And you know what is most remarkable about Eliyahu? The intense fiery prayer that took place in that synagogue – imagine that kind of prayer three times a day. That was Eliyahu.”
Prayer is a theme that inevitably came up in every eulogy at Eliyahu’s funeral. Friends and family all recalled the fervor and earnest way with which he prayed and spoke of the power of prayer.
The family read an essay Eliyahu wrote at his funeral, which they say is a letter he left for all the Jewish people. The following is a translation:
“The prayer that you pray three times each day brings you closer to the Master of the World, connecting you each time anew. When you rise in the morning, look around and see how wonderful this world that G-d gave you is and thank Him for it.
“And during Shacharit [the morning prayer], when all of nature is waking from its slumber, the human rises and prays and directs his or her heart, spirit and soul toward the Creator of the World and through this provides rest to the soul, which at the time of prayer ventures outward a bit, exposing its truest will to you, and you must know to ask of G-d what is upon your heart.
“And also through hitbodedut (solitude/meditation), when you cut yourself off from the surroundings and be with yourself, you basically see what you want to and are unaffected by your surroundings and you request from G-d your true wishes.
“The importance of prayer is the utmost, such that prayer replaced the Temple sacrifices, which were said to give G-d ‘satisfaction’ (Leviticus 1:9). There is the tradition that when Moses was told by G-d that he would not enter the Land of Israel, he prayed before Him 515 prayers to be allowed to enter the Land… until G-d told him to stop praying, because He had decreed that Moses would not enter. He allowed him to pray because He desired his prayers and desires the prayer of all righteous people.
“It is written ‘Your nation are all righteous,’ so pray, because you are righteous and G-d desires your prayers. […]
“We must ‘Perfect the world under the Kingdom of the Almighty.’ The first thing the Nation of Israel must do is perfect ourselves, to become an example to the nations of the world. How do we fix ourselves? Through prayer and return to true service of G-d, because when you are real with yourself and are true in your way, others will go after you. […]
“In conclusion, always serve G-d with joy and always know to seek Him at every time. Always strive to be free to do the will of the Blessed Creator and to perfect yourself and be true with G-d and with yourself. ‘You shall be simple with HaShem your G-d,’ (Deuteronomy 18:13) and they will go after you because this is the truth.”
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Shlomo Miller
Friday, 13/8/04- The security coordinator of Itamar was murdered Erev Shabbat while defending the community from an arab terrorist attack. Arutz 7 (IsraelNN.com) Shlomo Miller,
the security officer of the Shomron community of Itamar, is the Israeli who was shot and killed in this morning’s shooting attack in Itamar. Miller will be laid to rest Friday afternoon at 16:00 in Jerusalem. Arutz 7: Terror Victim, Father of Seven, Buried in Pre-Sabbath Funeral Dozens of people took part in a somber funeral ceremony on Friday afternoon, shortly before the onset of the Sabbath, for Shlomo Miller, who had been gunned down by a Palestinian terrorist just a few hours before. Miller, father of seven children ranging in age from 4-21 and husband of Esther, was the security officer of his hometown of Itamar, near Shechem (Nablus) in the Shomron.
The attack began on Friday morning around 11:00 when a PA para-military police officer approached the back gate of Itamar and opened fire at two Israelis standing nearby. Unhurt, they immediately alarmed Itamar’s emergency task force. The first to arrive were Shlomo Miller and another man; the terrorist saw them first, and shot several bullets into Miller. The terrorist managed to grab Miller’s M-16 rifle. In the meantime, other emergency team members had arrived, and engaged the terrorist in a battle. Though the murderer shot at them with Miller’s M-16, he was soon dead. On his corpse was found a Kalachnikov rifle, cartridges and a knife.
Miller, who was rushed by helicopter to Beilinson Hospital in Petack Tikvah, died there of his wounds. He was buried in the ancient Mt. of Olives cemetery. The Commander of the Shomron Brigade, Col. Har’el Knafu, eulogized him, saying that he could not believe that just a day before, he had addressed hundreds of security personnel at a special ceremony and mentioned Shlomo by name, citing his exemplary work in ensuring the safety of the Jews living in the area. He also noted that he was not surprised that it was Shlomo who was hit by the terrorist’s gunfire, “as Shlomo was always the first one at the scene… I promise you, Shlomo, that we will purse those who sent the terrorist until we completely avenge your blood.”
Shlomo’s 17-year-old orphan son Eliyahu spoke in a choked voice, saying, “I cannot believe that at this age I must eulogize my father.” He then called upon the government, “Don’t give them guns! They killed my father!” Defense Minister Sha’ul Mofaz announced just a week before the attack his plan to allow PA para-military policemen to bear guns – despite warnings and past experience that the guns are liable to be used against Israeli citizens.
Shlomo Miller became Itamar’s security officer two years ago, succeeding Yosef Tuito, who was murdered when responding to the terror attack in which Rachel Shabo and three of her children were murdered in their home. Friday’s attack was at least the 6th fatal attack in and around Itamar since the onset of the current warfare.
Boaz Shabo, who lost his wife and three of his seven children in the above-mentioned attack, told Arutz-7’s Uzi Baruch, “Shlomo accompanied my family after the terrible catastrophe we went through; he was a good man who cared about every single person in our town.” Shabo said that the attack “brings me back to what happened then; it is simply hard to describe.”
The Yesha Council issued a statement: “This grave attack in Itamar proves once again that the IDF was right, and Ariel Sharon was wrong. The disengagement is blowing up in our faces. In addition, the fact that the terrorist murderer was a member of the PA’s security forces proves that we cannot give them more territory and more guns.”