President Isaac Herzog Apologizes to Israel at the Burial Ground
President Isaac Herzog, speaking at the funeral of slain hostage Shlomo Mantzur, apologizes that the country did not protect him.
“As a public envoy of the entire State of Israel, I ask you for forgiveness for not being able to protect you in the place that was supposed to be your fortress,” Herzog says, according to Hebrew-language media reports.
“Forgiveness from you, from your family, from Kissufim and from the people of the entire western Negev, for not saving you on that bitter day,” Herzog says.
Herzog also calls for a state commission of inquiry to be established as soon as possible.
“There is no other way [for the country] to repair and heal other than to investigate and find out in depth everything that caused the terrible massacre other than taking responsibility and carrying it, with the full weight of its significance, to ensure that such a terrible disaster is never experienced again,” Herzog says.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly put off the establishment of a state commission of inquiry, the body that enjoys the broadest powers under Israeli law, to investigate the government’s failures ahead of the devastating October 7, 2023, Hamas-led onslaught in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.
Authorities said last month that Mantzur, 85, was murdered during his abduction from Kibbutz Kissufim on October 7, 2023.
Born in Baghdad in 1938, he survived the Farhud pogrom in Iraq and immigrated to Israel in 1951 at age 13, becoming one of the founders of Kibbutz Kissufim, where he worked for years in the chicken coop, as well as at an eyewear factory, and learned carpentry as a hobby.
He is survived by his wife, Mazal, five children, 12 grandchildren, and five siblings
.jpeg)
Comments
Post a Comment