Police Demolish Mourning Tent for Terrorist as Victims Laid to Rest
Jerusalem police demolished a mourning tent adjacent to the home of the driver of a truck that murdered four IDF soldiers Sunday as the funerals for the four victims of yesterday’s terror attack began around the country.
IDF soldiers Erez Orbach of Alon Shvut, Shir Hajaj of Ma’aleh Adumim, Shira Tzur of Haifa and Yael Yekutiel of Givatayim – will be laid to rest Monday at cemeteries in their home towns. Three families asked that media not attend.
In addition, five people wounded in the attack remain hospitalized at Shaarei Zedek Medical Center and at Hadassah University Hospital – Ein Karem in Jerusalem, including one female soldier who is listed in serious condition. Doctors said her condition had stabilized overnight.
Monday morning, police closed one exit from Jabel Mukaber, the Arab-majority neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem that is adjacent to Armon Hanetziv and was home to the terrorist who ran his truck into a group of soldiers at the Hass Promenade Sunday, in response to rioting and attacks on police officers. Overnight, security forces arrested nine residents of Jabel Mukaber, including five members of the driver’s family.
Families for three of the four victims of the attack asked media not to cover the funerals. But a spokeswoman for Alon Shuvut said that Erez Orbach volunteered for military service despite the fact that IDF doctors exempted him due to a medical condition.
“Erez fought [for the right to] serve in the IDF,” the community said in a statement. “After being rejected by several military exemptions committees, he stood up for himself and for his right to serve.
“Eventually, Erez managed to enlist in the air force and eventually decided to become an officer. He had to fight for this, too, but eventually his determination convinced his officers to approve the move, and he was accepted to the course.”
But Orbach did not consider his service to be unusual. Speaking last year at a ceremony to honor volunteer soldiers, Orbach said that he’d never considered himself a “special case” who needed special consideration. “Of course I never thought I should do any less than everybody else. I knew then, and I know now that I am like everyone… five months ago I enlisted and today I feel like I am doing an important, high-quality service. I get to do things I never imagined I would do and I am involved with things I never imagined even existed.
“I may be a tiny cog in a very large machine, but without that small cog the entire machine may not work properly… I may be tired at the end of the day, but I feel that this is my duty and something that I must contribute,” Orbach said.