'Murdered simply for being a Jew'

'Just wanted to pray.' Ben-Yosef Livnat & Limor Livnat and Ben-Yosef's grandfather


















Thousands bid farewell to Ben-Yosef Livnat, who was killed Sunday morning in
a shooting at Joseph's Tomb, allegedly by Palestinian policemen. 'It was cold-blooded murder,' says victim's aunt Sports and Culture Minister Limor Livnat. Brother of teen injured in incident: 'They knew what they were getting into, and level of risk involved, but they wanted action'

Thousands gathered at Mount Olives Cemetery in Jerusalem to bid farewell to Ben-Yosef Livnat, who was killed Sunday morning in a shooting at Joseph's Tomb, presumably by Palestinian policemen.

Among the participants were right-wing activists, rabbis and public figures, as well as Sports and Culture Minister Limor Livnat, who is Ben-Yosef's aunt.

Prior and during the funeral procession, participants shouted "vengeance," but Noam Livnat, the victim's father, said "revenge is irrelevant because the perpetrators will get what they rightfully deserve."

Limor Livnat's father, Azriel Livnat, compared Ben-Yosef's death to that of Shlomo Ben-Yosef, the first Jew executed by the British authorities during the mandate period.

A member of the settlement project told Ynet that "even if they find the murderers, they will probably sit in prison, get an academic degree on the expense of the tax payer, earn the respect of their own people for being Jew killers and eventually find their way back to freedom in this or the other deal, just like what happened in the Itamar massacre."

No eulogies were made due to the holiday, but Sports and Culture Minister Limor Livnat said over her nephew's fresh grave: "I woke up this morning and received a phone call from Ben-Yosef's mother, who told me that he was murdered by a terrorist masked as a Palestinian police officer.

"It was cold-blooded murder. Ben-Yosef went to pray with other Jews, and he was murdered simply for being a Jew," she said.

"It's hard to grasp these things. This is why that area should be under the control of Israel. My own private nephew, a personal sacrifice, I hope that he's the last victim," she said.

'Went withut rabbi's permit'

Meanwhile, the police asked the Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court to remand three Breslov Hasidim, aged 19 from Jerusalem and Bnei-Brak, for five days, for violating a restricted military zone order.

The motion said that the three, along with 15 other hasidim, entered the Joseph Tomb compound on Sunday morning sans the proper permits. The act resulted in the shooting incident that left one Israeli dead and five others injured.

The Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court ordered to release the three under a two-day house arrest.

The court permitted the three to attend prayer services with the escort of family members and ordered them to pay bail of NIS 5,000 each (about $1,400).

The 17-year-old brother of one of the wounded men arrived at Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva, where they have been hospitalized.

"They knew what they were getting into, and the level of risk involved. But they considered it as action," the brother told Ynet.

"They only wanted to pray; sometimes fate can be pretty bad and unpleasant," he said, adding "they have a rabbi that coordinates these entries. This time they came without a permit or authorization of the rabbi.

"When the visits are coordinated nothing happens – the rabbi looks after us. However this time the rabbi wasn’t there with them; it was a crime for them to enter the tomb without the rabbi or a permit," noted the brother.