A symbolic ceremony was held on Wednesday at the entrance to the complex that formerly housed the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) headquarters in the Ammunition Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem, which the Israel Land Authority began to demolish on Tuesday. During the ceremony, bereaved father Kobi Samerano affixed a mezuzah to the gate of the complex.
The ceremony was attended by Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Arieh King, MK Dan Illouz (Likud), and Im Tirtzu field activist Benayahu Ben-Shabbat.
Kobi's son, Yonatan Samerano, was abducted to the Gaza Strip and murdered by an UNRWA employee. He described the ceremony as a moment of closure: "Today, we were privileged to affix a mezuzah to the former UNRWA complex in Ammunition Hill in memory of our son. May this be a favorable time for protection, blessing, and salvation."
After the demolition of structures in the complex on Tuesday, Samerano stated, "This is closure for my family and me. A despicable UNRWA employee viciously abducted our Yonati, and for a long time we could not live in peace until we brought him for Jewish burial. Finaly justice is done: the UNRWA offices in Jerusalem were completely destroyed. UNRWA is outlawed, and it is out of Israel. Thank you to all those who helped and pushed for the law that enabled this demolition. I hope that we will not see any more of UNRWA in Israel."
MK Illouz stated during the ceremony: "We affixed a mezuzah at a place where incitement and terrorism were disseminated. I began this struggle with Arieh King as a Jerusalem City Council member about a decade ago. Then, too, the coalition and opposition joined forces on the matter on the municipal level, and today, we did so on the national level. We will continue until the total elimination of UNRWA from everywhere in the Land of Israel."