Hundreds participated on Friday in the funeral procession of Yehudah Dimentman Hy’d who was killed Thursday night in a shooting attack near Homesh, Samaria. The procession then continued to Jerusalem, where Yehuda will be buried.
His Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Elishama Cohen, mourned him, saying:
“Our Yehudah, a soldier without a uniform, a soldier of devotion to the Land of Israel. This terrorist who hit you wants to hit each and every member of the holy group standing here. Homesh will say in a clear and distinct voice that this entire place is ours.”
Homesh was established as a secular settlement of the National Worker movement in 1980, in the heart of Samaria, north of Shavei Shomron and northwest of Shechem, on Route 60.
In 2005, when late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon got mixed up in criminal shenanigans and was forced by the powers that be in the state prosecution to evacuate the Jewish communities of the Gaza Strip in exchange for his immunity from prosecution, he included Homesh in the communities to be destroyed, but he had enough sense not to remove the IDF from the hilltop that enjoys a clear view of all of central Israel.
When Sharon destroyed it, Homesh had some 70 families. In the years that followed, Homesh was rebuilt time and again by right-wing patriots who were promptly evacuated by the army and police. Since 2009, the Renewed Yeshiva of Homesh has operated at the site and been harassed from time to time by the powers that be in Israel’s security apparatus. Thursday night, it paid with blood for its love of the land.
At the funeral procession, Religious Zionism Chairman MK Bezalel Smotrich paraphrased Gen. 46:28:
“Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to teach him,” and said, “He sent Yehudah to teach us, all of us, what we haven’t succeeded in doing o this day – return to the Homesh. Increase the yeshiva. This is what will happen, with the help of God, even if we have not succeeded to date, it will happen. Sorry, Ethia and David, the family, for not doing enough. That we didn’t do before.”
MK Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionism) tweeted on his way to the funeral:
“On my way to the funeral of a murdered terror victim. Sad songs are on the radio. Leftists explain that the answer is to evacuate settlers and strengthen the murderers. And horribly, this is the government’s official line. Welcome to the early 1990s and the days of Oslo. I did not miss them at all.”
Internal Security Minister Omer Barlev who earlier this week grabbed the headlines once when he reported discussion “settler violence” with a State Dept. senior official, and once more after he suggested the people he angered should chill and “drink a glass of water,” did not blame the murder on the victim and was able to tell right from wrong this time – what a pity it took the murder of a Jew to get him there. The Labor minister tweeted:
“Severe attack near Homesh tonight. Palestinian terrorism raises its ugly head again. My condolences to the family and loved ones of the yeshiva student who was murdered, and a speedy recovery to the wounded.”
He then added his own reference to scripture (Psalms 18:38), “I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till I destroyed them.”
Now, that’s the stern message we’d like to hear from a security minister. In Hebrew, the past tense is reversed to be spoken in the future tense, which is even more encouraging.
Unfortunately, people at the funeral report that Barlev’s police blocked the roads to Homesh, and people were forced to walk to the funeral.
As expected, Barlev’s tweet was not received well. I particularly enjoyed the response by Esther, who tweeted:
“Palestinian terrorism has not raised its head again. It was here the whole time. I am amazed that you, as Minister of Internal Security, did not receive the data on the increase in the number of cases of stone-throwing, shootings, thefts, Arab sexual harassment of Jewish women.
“Palestinian terrorism is not raising its head again. You haven’t seen it. It has been around for a long time. You ignored it. Resign.”
Yes, well, good luck with that last one.