Rabbi Slain in Terror Attack Buried

The Fellowship  |  February 6, 2018

ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN-CONFLICT
Family and friends of Rabbi Itamar Ben Gal mourn during his funeral in the West Bank settlement of Har Bracha on February 6, 2018, after he was killed the previous day by a Palestinian assailant in a stabbing attack at a bus stop at the entrance to Ariel settlement. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / JIM HOLLANDER (Photo credit should read JIM HOLLANDER/AFP/Getty Images)

Today, friends, loved ones, and fellow Israelis gathered to bury the beloved rabbi, teacher, and father killed in yesterday’s horrific terror attack. The Times of Israel’s Jacob Magid and Stuart Winer report that at the burial service for Rabbi Itamar Ben-Gal, his wife Miriam said, “Itamar, my dear, we will continue settling the land and raising our family”:

Hundreds of people participated in the funeral Tuesday for a rabbi killed in a West Bank terror attack a day earlier, escorting the victim as he was laid to rest in the Har Bracha settlement where he lived.

Itamar Ben-Gal, 29, was stabbed to death while waiting at a hitchhiking post near the settlement of Ariel on Monday, as he headed to a circumcision ceremony for his nephew. He was survived by his wife, Miriam, and four children.

His suspected killer, Abed al-Karim Assi, 19, managed to evade capture following the attack, even after an IDF officer hit him with his car while in pursuit.

At the gravesite, Miriam Ben-Gal said, “Itamar, my dear, we will continue settling the land and raising our family.”

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel, and Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben Dahan were also at the ceremony.

“The country has lost a righteous person,” Edelstein said in a eulogy for Ben-Gal. “What a terrible loss. With Miriam, he built a family life… he was a dedicated teacher who treated each of his students as a son.”

“The terrorist saw the smile that he always had on his face and the light that was always in his eyes,” he continued. “He tried to wipe off the smile and put out the light. This was the same desire of the killer of Raziel Shevach…”

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