Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, the former Chief Sephardic Rabbi, sent a short message to the mourners at Mercaz HaRav Kook:

"Your young men who are lying here in front of us, and who sanctified themselves in the study of Torah and were killed in the House of G-d with Gemara books open before them, are roses that were picked, and thanks to them the Lord will have mercy on us," he said.