“The blood of Israeli citizens will not be spilled in vain,” Netanyahu declared.
By: United with Israel Staff
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday rededicated an ancient synagogue in the Golan Heights, in a ceremony during which he vowed to “settle accounts” with the terrorist who murdered Kim Levengrond-Yehezkel and Ziv Hajbi on Sunday at the Barkan Industrial Zone in Samaria.
“We grieve today as we part from Kim Yehezkel and Ziv Hajbi, may their memories be blessed. May G-d avenge their blood,” Netanyahu stated at the dedication of a synagogue at the Ein Keshatot archaeological site.
“We will catch the abhorrent murderer and we will settle accounts with him. The blood of Israeli citizens will not be spilled in vain,” he declared.
IDF forces are still in pursuit of the terrorist, 23-year-old Ashraf Walid Suleiman Na’alwa from the Palestinian village of Shuweika, just north of Tul Karem.
Israel Will ‘Continue to Stand Strong and Determined’
Turning to the Iranian threat on Israel’s northern border not far from Netanyahu delivered his remarks, the prime minister decried “Iran’s attempts to establish a military presence and the aggression of terrorist fanatics.”
Israel will “continue to stand strong and determined against all of these [enemies]. Israel on the Golan Heights is a guarantee for stability in the surrounding area.”
Netanyahu explained that the Israeli presence in the Golan Heights “is a solid reality based on ancient rights” and “a fact that the international community must recognize and as long as it depends on me the Golan Heights will always remain under Israeli sovereignty because otherwise we would have Iran and Hezbollah on the shores of the Kinneret [lake].”
Ein Keshatot was mainly inhabited from the mid 5th to the 8th centuries. Excavations have revealed a Roman-era settlement, first inhabited by pagans and later by Jews, who left behind the ruins of an exquisite synagogue when they abandoned the town after the 749 earthquake destroyed it.
Reconstruction of the synagogue, which has been underway since 2003, used special high-tech computer technology to code the stones. Blocks were then labeled with chips and a special crane lifted and inserted them in the correct sequence. Archaeologists believe the synagogue has been restored with great accuracy.
Netanyahu further stated that while “Iran and Hezbollah are trying constantly to establish a force opposite us that would operate against the Golan Heights and the Galilee,” Israel is “thwarting this and as long as it depends on me we will continue to do so,” he vowed.
“We will continue to act with determination against Iran’s attempts to open an additional front against us on the Golan Heights, and in Syria we will act against all attempts to transfer lethal weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon,” he added.