Herzog pays condolence call to family of Yuval Castleman: ‘I’m here to ask forgiveness’

President Isaac Herzog pays a condolence call to the family of Yuval Castleman, who fired at assailants at the scene of a terrorist attack in Jerusalem and then was shot dead by a reservist soldier.

The reservist has since been arrested and his weapon taken away, after he shot and killed Castleman while he had his hands raised in the air and his weapon on the ground.

“First of all I am here to console. I cannot change reality, I am here to express my condolences on behalf of an entire nation,” Herzog tells Castleman’s relatives, including his father, Moshe.

“I am here not just as an individual but as the president of the State of Israel, to ask forgiveness and to express enormous appreciation to an Israeli hero who did a huge and brave thing.”

“He got out of his car because that is how he was raised, because he always did so, in order to save brothers and sisters he didn’t know, and paid with his life in a horrible and disgraceful way, in my eyes,” Herzog adds.

Herzog says the incident must be fully investigated, and the entire approach to weapons and open-fire regulations should be discussed: “We must not be afraid to talk about it, to put it on the table.”