Education minister: We will continue to ‘eradicate the evil’

“Naftali, we will not rest until we punish your murderers and their accomplices,” Education Minister Shai Piron says at the funeral of Naftali Fraenkel, 16.

“We will continue your mission to eradicate the evil from this world. The many memorial candles that burned last night and today will light up the darkness, will banish the hatred, burn out the corruption, add more light on top of the light” you brought into the world, he says.

“Were our prayers not helpful?” he says.

“Our prayers worked. It changed [things]. It changed us. All of us. It showed us that we share a deep unity.”

“We tend to talk about the differences and the divisive, on the unity, on the separation… until the moments of truth come along.”

Piron turns to students present at the funeral, as well as those around the country, and urges them to be strong.

“The word ‘life’ is in plural because it includes the bad and the good. Life is a combination of pain and joy. Don’t lose your faith in life. The photographs of your friends will continue to accompany you and us, it will accompany us as a source of inspiration for a meaningful life.”