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A mourner at the funeral on Tuesday for four French-Jewish victims of Islamic terror. (Photo: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The grief was palpable at Tuesday’s funeral in Jerusalem for four French-Jewish victims of Islamic terror. All dignitaries acknowledged that they were killed because they were Jews, emphasizing that Radical Islam threatens all humanity and must be defeated.
Thousands of Israelis accompanied the bodies of four French-Jewish victims of terror – Yoav Hattab, 21; Philippe Braham, 45; Yohan Cohen, 22, and Francois-Michel Saada, 55 – as they journeyed to their final resting place in Jerusalem.
The victims were taken hostage and then murdered by a terrorist claiming allegiance to Islamic State at a kosher supermarket in Paris on Friday. Their bodies arrived at Ben-Gurion Airport early Tuesday morning on an El Al Israel Airlines flight and were brought to Jerusalem’s largest cemetery – Har Hamenuchot (literally, Mount of Rest) – for burial.
A Nation ‘Brokenhearted, Shaken and in Pain’
“This is not how we wanted to welcome you to Israel,” President Reuven Rivlin said in his eulogy. “This is not how we wanted you to arrive in the Land of Israel, this is not how we wanted to see you come home, to the State of Israel, and to Jerusalem, its capital. We wanted you alive, we wanted for you, life. At moments such as these, I stand before you, brokenhearted, shaken and in pain, and with me stands an entire nation.”
These terrorists “are not just enemies of the Jews, but of all humanity,” Prime Minister Netanyahu stated. “It’s about time that all of the civilized world unite and uproot these enemies from our midst,” he demanded.
Israelis United in Fight Against Terror
“You will never, ever defeat us,” Netanyahu asserted.
“The secret of our nation’s strength is our internal unity, our faith and the mutual responsibility that binds us together. This is the source of our power, our resilience – the resilience of an ancient people that has overcome every obstacle and adversity, and has risen from the dirt.
“Look around here in the mountains of Jerusalem,” he continued. “Today, thankfully, we have a state of our own – a thriving, modern state; a state that shines a bright light, like a moral beacon for the world; a state that takes responsibility for its own fate.”
Thousands gathered for funeral of four victims of Hyper Cacher terror attack. (Photo: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Israeli Opposition Leader Isaac Herzog declared: “A straight line connects the murder of the four Jews to the bastards who entered the Har Nof synagogue [in Jerusalem] and killed people at worship in their prayer shawls two months ago.”
“We are all united in the knowledge [that] terror will not win. We will not let terrorism extinguish our light,” Herzog vowed.
Ségolène Royal, French Minister of Ecology and Sustainable Development and Energy, announced that the victims will be awarded posthumously the highest French decorative honor, the Legion of Honor.
“The victims were murdered for being Jewish, which is outrageous,” she stated, pledging the “unfailing determination of the French government to fight against all forms and acts of anti-Semitism.”
Author: Atara Beck
Senior Writer, United with Israel
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