Israeli Stabbing Victim Dies After Fighting for His Life for Three Weeks
Gennady Kaufman died around 7:00 AM on Wednesday, December 30 after fighting for his life for more than three weeks at Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem. He was 40 years old.
Kaufman, a well-known Jewish resident of Kiryat Arba, was stabbed and critically wounded in Hebron on December 7 by Palestinian terrorist Ihab Maswada. He was repeatedly stabbed in the chest while waiting at a bus stop near the Tomb of the Patriarchs where he worked as a gardener for the past few months.
Kaufman moved to Israel from the former Soviet Union and had previously worked as a security guard in Kiryat Arba. He is survived by his wife Veronica and by two children, nine-year-old Michal and nineteen-year-old David who is currently serving in Israel’s navy.
“Gennady was an enthusiastic Zionist, loved the country, and saw it as a mission to work in Hebron,” co-worker Chaim Blaycher told Tazpit Press Service (TPS). “He really liked working at antiquity sites in the city. He felt they reinforced the Jewish people’s connection to Hebron.”
“I found myself walking with him quite a lot lately because I didn’t want to walk alone due to the security situation,” Blaycher said. “He felt very bad about the security situation, about the victims, and about the disgrace of Arabs hurting Jews in our country.”
“He felt that there wasn’t any real answer to what is happening and that it seems that nothing is being done to successfully put an end to it,” he added.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his condolences to the family. “Gennady was stabbed in a murderous attack a few weeks ago and unfortunately couldn’t recover,” he said. “I say again this morning to anyone trying to uproot us from the Tomb of the Patriarchs. Excluding a few years last century, we have been there continuously for almost 4,000 years and we will stay there forever. You cannot defeat us.”
Kaufman’s funeral took place on the same day in Hebron at 3:30 pm. The funeral began at the Tomb of the Patriarchs and the body was carried from there to Hebron’s old cemetery.