Rivlin visits grieving family of Israeli killed in terror attack

President Rivlin pays a condolence visit to the family of terror victim Yotam Ovadia in his family’s home in the West Bank settlement of Adam.

Ovadia was one of three Israelis stabbed by 17-year-old Palestinian Muhammad Yusef last Thursday. The two others were wounded.

“There are no words of comfort I can offer you on a personal level,” the president tells the family, calling their loss “unbearable.”

Yotam’s widow, Tal Tahel, tells the president that while her two children — aged 7 months and 2 years — do not completely understand what happened to their father, “they feel that something has changed.”

Tahel adds that they had chosen to move to Adam due to its proximity to Jerusalem. “I felt that I was living in the safest place there was. I was not afraid for a moment,” she says.

The president replies that “this is a fate that we’ve always endured as a people, and yet when it affects someone at the personal level, it is impossible to comprehend.”

“You are in all of our hearts,” he tells the grieving widow.

Tahel asks the president before he leaves to make an effort to ensure that no leniency is given to the terrorist’s family.

Yusef was shot dead by the third victim he stabbed.

“They get compensation, encouragement, and their house is not destroyed. This cannot be. ”

Rivlin assures the widow that “everyone gets the punishment he deserves.”

The president adds that PA President Mahmoud Abbas “must also understand that murderers cannot be encouraged.”

— Jacob Magid