The family of IDF Sgt. Gur Kehati, who was killed in the same incident in which civilian Ze’ev (Jabo) Erlich was killed in Lebanon, stormed into an event held in memory of Erlich in Samaria this evening to protest the event.
Kehati's grandfather, Brigadier General (res.) Assaf Agmon, stormed in while the commander of the Samaria Military Police, Col. Ariel Gonen, began his speech and said, "You are confused. The IDF is conducting an investigation against the person you are coming to honor. An investigation into a criminal act that led to the death of an IDF soldier whose grandfather I am. When the IDF is conducting a Military Intelligence investigation against someone who in a criminal act caused the death of an IDF soldier, you cannot come with an IDF uniform and honor the event. You shame the IDF. You disgrace the IDF. You disgrace the memory of Gur Kehati who ran to save his company commander and because of that he died. And this was a criminal mission."
Agmon also addressed the head of the Samaria Council that organized the event and said, "You too, Yossi Dagan, I do not accept your condolences. Your condolences are hypocritical. They are not real. You are having an impure ceremony. The candles you lit are impure. In a messianist act, you brought about the death of an innocent IDF soldier. To see some inscription at some Christian site in Lebanon, they took innocent soldiers and look what happened. Aren't you ashamed?!"
Gur's mother, Maayan, turned to the Samaria Brigade Commander, who did not cancel his participation in the event, saying: "I have another son in the army. How am I supposed to send him, with what message? That he is being used as a tool for madness? It is a shame that I have no way to describe. A magical boy, an outstanding medic, you just took all his dreams away. There is no way to describe the disappointment from the IDF."
Erlich's brother, Yigal Amitai, took the stage during the event and said, "My name is Yigal, I am Jabo brother. I just want to say that the grief of the Kehati family is our grief, and the pain of the Kehati family is our pain. We do not differentiate in this pain, in the midst of bereavement and pain."
After a while, the Kehati family members left the venue and the conference continued as usual. During the conference, lectures were held on Bible studies, archaeology, history and heritage.
Prof. Yoel Elitzur spoke about the role of academia and archaeology in commemorating Erlich memory, and leading professionals presented their research on the Samaritans, biblical Shechem, the archaeological finds there, and their connection to the Land of Israel and the Jewish people for generations. Alongside the lectures, a film about Erlich's life was screened, presenting his unique way of connecting people to the Land of Israel and its roots.
Samaria Regional Council chairman Yossi Dagan said, "Thank you to the Samaria Brigade, and to all the soldiers who guard us here in Samaria, and from here guard the entire State of Israel. We all embrace you and the soldiers, salute you, pray for your success and safety, together with all the citizens of the State of Israel. We all pray for the return of our brothers and sisters, who were kidnapped in a great victory in the Land of Israel."
"This conference is not a memorial conference, it is a conference to educate about the land. We chose to name it in memory of Jabo Ehrlich, who lived and breathed this land in all its aspects. With Jabo, the great scholar, all learning and research was alive and active, out of an endless love for the Land of Israel and the history of the Jewish people. The Land of Israel, our inherited history, was not only the center of his academic and professional life but literally his entire life," he added.
Samaria Brigade Commander Col. Ariel Gonen said, "When we look at what Jabo's essence was, it was to make connections, to connect the Bible to the Land of Israel physically, to turn the verses of the Bible from thousands of years ago into a reality that can be felt, seen and connected to. Most of Jabo's connection was spent days and nights connecting us, IDF soldiers, to the verses of the Bible and the land of the Land of Israel."