Brutal Terror in Israel

Various news sources

Arab terrorists murdered five people in a family in the Jewish community of Itamar, in northeast Samaria, around 9 p.m. Friday night.

The only survivors were three children, a seven-year-old boy and two-year-old boy, and a 12-year-old girl, who returned from a Bnei Akiva youth group event to discover her parents and three of her brothers and sisters, including a three-month old baby girl, had been killed.

The victims of the brutal murders at Itamar, in Samaria, Friday night are Rabbi and IDF tank unit officer Udi Fogel H”YD, his wife Ruth H”YD, 11-year-old Yoav H”YD, four-year-old Elad H”YD and three-month-old Hadas H”YD. Rabbi Fogel taught at the Itamar post-high school yeshiva, whose senior rabbi is former IDF Chief Rabbi Avi Ronsky.

The barbaric murders followed dozens of warnings from nationalists and leaders in Judea and Samaria that the constant easing of security procedures implemented by Defense Minister Ehud Barak would be the prelude to terrorist attacks.

The army is investigating the attack, but it already is known that the security fence did not include cameras and other equipment requested by Itamar, according to Shomron (Samaria) Regional Council Chairman Gershon Mesika.

The United States on Saturday called the deaths a terrorist attack and urged the Palestinian Authority to “unequivocally” condemn the killings.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the murder of five Israelis in a terrorist attack in the northern West Bank, and we offer our condolences to their loved ones and to the Israeli people,” the White House said in a statement.

The funeral for the victims will take place at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Har Menuchot Cemetery in Jerusalem. The survivors, 12-year-old Tamar, eight-year-old Ro’ie and two-year-old Shai, are being cared for by their grandfather, Chaim Fogel, a resident of Nevei Tzuf, also in Samaria.