The funeral of Lieutenant Avshalom Armoni, the officer who was killed during a military exercise yesterday, is underway this afternoon at the Har Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem.
Armoni was the cousin of Naama Henkin, who was murdered with her husband in a shooting attack two years ago in Samaria. Armoni, 22, from Beit Horon, studied at the hesder yeshiva in Otniel. He left four brothers, one of them a soldier.
The funeral is attended by Minister Yuval Steinitz, rabbis, family and friends.
Lt. Col. Efraim Mizrahi, his commander, said at the funeral: "Avshalom was an ambitious officer, you understood the responsibility of the command and you always said 'after me.' You managed to touch us in the battalion and your men. We will learn lessons from the disaster. You are engraved in the heritage of the battalion. "
Rabbi Yishai Schechter of the Otniel yeshiva said, "You were a social magnet with joy and a man full of truth, uncompromising, a man who lived nature and the land. You cried for the Torah that you lost because of your service. There was no place for lying. You were looking for precision, everything to serve the nation and the land. A time to plant and a time to uproot. The wound is open and bleeding, but your smile hits me. "
Amitai Zadok, Avshalom's friend, said with pain, "I do not know where to start, we dreamed of living next to each other, you had a wonderful humor. I miss sitting with you. In our last conversation together we wished each other a happy new year and said we would meet on Sukkot. I'll miss you, my beloved friend. I don’t know what I'll do without you. "