Friday, June 30, 2006

Funeral of Murdered 18-Year-Old Eliyahu Asheri

Follow this link to take a few moments to reflect on the funeral of a true martyr in this Photo Essay by Hillel Fendel and Ezra HaLevi from Arutz Sheva, Jun 29, '06 / 3 Tammuz 5766 ...






Members of Eliyahu's family at the funeral in Jerusalem.



Thousands of people, including both chief rabbis and other notables, attended the funeral of Eliyahu Asheri, kidnapped and murdered by Arab terrorists. Arutz-7 brings photos from the funeral.

Roads in Jerusalem were closed in honor of the funeral, which is to end with the youth's burial in the Mt. of Olives cemetery.

Eliyahu's teachers and family, one after the other, spoke about what a sweet person he was. Over and over it was mentioned that Eliyahu's prayers were "like fire.""You went up to Heaven in a storm, like Eliyahu (Elijah) the prophet," Eliyahu's mother Miriam eulogized, in a calm and determined voice.

...Eliyahu had not been seen since Sunday night, and only Monday afternoon did it become fairly clear that he had been kidnapped. By then, however, he was already dead - even while volunteers searched throughout Judea and Samaria for traces of his presence. In the end, it was the murderer himself who led the Israeli security authorities to the body, in a field outside Ramallah, north of Jerusalem. The terrorist was among those apprehended in a round of IDF arrests made throughout Judea and Samaria on Wednesday. He was interrogated by the General Security Services, during which he revealed how and where he and his gang members shot Eliyahu in the head from close range, shortly after they abducted him on Sunday night. Others connected to the kidnapping and murder are still being interrogated.

Eliyahu's mother Miriam told Voice of Israel Radio this morning,
"At this time, I do have not much to say, for the pain is so unbearable; I can barely find a way to hold it. But one thing I can say is that many times in the past years, because of the many disagreements-between-brothers we have in this country, many times I asked G-d to give me, first of all, love in my heart for everyone. And now, following this terrible thing that happened to us, it has become clear to me how really great the Nation of Israel is - how much help we have received, and all the volunteers, and the army - there are no words to describe it... And this was the way of Eliyahu as well..."

....Rabbi Druckman said at the funeral that sometimes funerals are like sunsets, but that Eliyahu's passing is like the sun going dark at noontime. "This is not just a private funeral, but one belonging to all of Israel," he said. "His murderers intended to kill any one of us and all of us."

...Eliyahu, 18, was from the Shomron town of Itamar and was a student at the pre-military yeshiva academy in N'vei Tzuf, in the western Binyamin area. He was last seen at 9 PM Sunday at the French Hill junction in northern Jerusalem, where hundreds of people wait for rides northward every day.

...Rabbi Ronsky said, "It is now clear that they murdered Eliyahu very soon after they kidnapped him, and all their announcements and threats afterwards were merely psychological pressure against us." The Popular Resistance Committees of Ramallah, under the supervision of the terrorist group of the same name in Gaza, announced Monday - after Eliyahu was already dead - that they would murder him if Israel did not withdraw its forces from Gaza.

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