"Whoever chose the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva as a terrorist target knew it was the heart of national Zionism," National Union Knesset Member Effie Eitam said Friday morning. MK Eitam learned at the yeshiva 30 years ago after living on the secular Ein Gev kibbutz.

He called the institution "the mother of all Zionist yeshivas," whose graduates serve in the army and have been at the forefront of development in Judea and Samaria. "The victims were murdered, but their hope and faith cannot be killed," he added.