Tens of thousands at the funeral.
Tens of thousands at the funeral.Arutz Sheva

Tens of thousands attended the funeral for the five members of the Fogel family massacred at Itamar on Friday night. The entrance to Jerusalem was blocked off by police and vehicles diverted to an alternative entrance after the huge attendance brought traffic to a standstill. Israel's major television channels provided live coverage of the eulogies for the victims.

Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon said at the funeral: "The murder reminds us all that the struggle and conflict are not about the size of Israel and its borders but about our very existence. The main thing is the ancient right of the Jewish people to its Land, a right we never renounced, and by which we returned to our land after thousands of years."

"When we think of these murderers, we know that they operate against a background of education that teaches them Jews are fair game," Yaalon added. "[This education] did not begin recently or in 1967. It began at the start of the Zionist enterprise and even before it. As long as this murderous education goes on, as long as the incitement continues, any agreement we sign is not worth the paper it will be written upon, because it will be immediately violated ny those who are the products of this education."    

In his eulogy, Samaria local authority head Gershon Mesika did not attempt to hide the fact that he blamed the government for the murders. "He who gives the order to remove checkpoints as a gesture to the Palestinian Evil [Mesika deliberately mispronounced the word reshut, 'authority,' as rish'ut, 'evil' - ed.], he who prevents the fixing of a fence due to legalistic whims, he who gives orders to fire at Jews, will not be able to bask in his innocence after the murder of five members of one family." 
 
More building for Jews is the “revenge” for Arab terror, Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger said. “The Creator, and not us, will avenge the spilled blood,” he said.

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.”

A survivor of the Holocaust, Rabbi Lau said that one would think the vicious circle of violence ended 66 years ago but “the river of blood continues to flow, and we stand here today helpless."

“What can you say when you see a two or three-month-old baby stabbed to death? We read this past Shabbat  the Book of the Torah that begins with sacrifices, but who thought of sacrifices such as these?”

He turned to the surviving Fogel children and said, ”Your mother and father need you. You are the ones who will say the Kaddish {mourner’s prayer] and you will recite, “May His great Name be glorified and sanctified. He Who makes peace in the Heaven will make peace for us and for all of the People of Israel. Amen.”

Hillel Ben Yishai, brother of Ruth Fogel, sobbed that the victims were “holy and pure and the People of Israel will learn 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 Ruth, an iron lady,” He added.

 

The Fogel family martyrs / Flash 90

 Gil Ronen contributed to this article.