Netanyahu visits family of slain terror victim
Joined by Naftali Bennett in condolence visit to family Ari Fuld, Netanyahu says ‘We owe our lives to heroes like Ari, we will always remember him.’
Many visitors came to pay their respects to the family of Ari Fuld, the American-Israeli man whp was stabbed to death by a terrorist in Gush Etzion Sunday, including the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bayit Yehudi Chairman Naftali Bennett.
“This evening I met the parents and siblings of the Israeli hero Ari Fuld. I embraced them in the name of the whole nation of Israel during this terrible time for them. We owe our lives to heroes like Ari. We will always remember him,” Netanyahu said after meeting the family of the 45-year-old victim.
Ari Fuld, a father of four, charged at the terrorist, 16-year-old Khalil Jabarin, after he was stabbed and even shot in his direction, but his death was declared shortly after arriving at Sha’are Zedek Medical Center.
IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot also praised the victim, lauding him for his efforts to neutralize the terrorist and prevent harm to others even after he was wounded.
Officials investigating the incident believe that the victim was chosen at random and that the terrorist was unaware of Fuld's posts on social media as a right wing activist engaging in Hasbara (PR) in English and Hebrew.
Furthermore, the terrorist’s family is not known to be overt supporters of terrorism or active in any hostile organizations, but the investigation continues into his larger circle of contacts.
In addition, a senior source in the Palestinian security forces denied in a conversation with Ynet that it was they who conveyed to Israel the information about the terrorist's intentions to carry out an attack.
According to him, the security services had no information about the attack before it was carried out, in contrast to what was reported earlier in some of the Israeli media.
However, the source noted that the terrorist's mother had alerted her son's intentions to the IDF directly at a checkpoint in the southern West Bank.
Sources in the terrorist's family said that he told his mother that he was going on a sports activity. When he was late coming home from school, his mother suspected that he was on his way to carry out an attack and therefore warned the forces about it.
During the short interval between the mother's alert at the checkpoint south of the town of Yatta from where the terrorist hailed and the time of the attack that was carried out north of Hebron could not have developed into a concrete warning.
So far, no closure has been imposed on the town of Yatta, perhaps due to its large size.
The terrorist was shot by a civilian passing by and taken to Sha’are Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem while still conscious.
The shopping center where the incident took place is known for its mix of Israeli and Palestinian shoppers.
Fuld's sister-in-law said that her late relative "believed in the people of Israel, in the Land of Israel, according to the Torah of Israel. He loved the country, was an educator, a teacher, and persistently fought for the truth … The people of Israel and the Land of Israel lost a true knight today whose entire soul and actions were for the sanctity of God and the people of Israel."
The Local council of Efrat said that professional teams of counselors are accompanying the family. "My brother lived his life as a hero and died as a hero, he was a hero until the last moment," said Hillel Fuld, the brother of the victim. He was buried Sunday night at the Kfar Etzion cemetery.
