Netanyahu aide says working to expand terror victim’s settlement

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff on Sunday told the bereaved family of terror victim Itamar Ben-Gal that the government was doing “everything in its power” to expand the West Bank settlement of Har Bracha where they live, in response to the deadly attack.

Yoav Horowitz paid a visit to the Ben-Gal family on behalf of Netanyahu during the week-long Jewish mourning period known as shiva, and read out a personal condolence letter from the prime minister.

During the visit, Miriam Ben-Gal told Horowitz that the family “wants comfort in the form of construction,” namely in stepping up building in the settlement, and also asked that the prime minister pay his condolences personally.

“The requests of Har Bracha are well known to us,” Horowitz told the Ben-Gals, assuring them the Prime Minister’s Office was “doing everything possible to realize this as soon as possible.”

Horowitz said the expansion of Har Bracha was at the forefront of the prime minister’s agenda.

On Sunday, the Ben-Gals also received a condolence message from US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

In a letter dated February 8, Friedman expressed his heartbreak at the murder of the 29-year-old rabbi and father of four young children.

“Just as Rabbi Ben-Gal dedicated himself to nurturing others, during this terrible time the government and people of the United States of America are standing with you, your precious family and community,” Friedman wrote.

Last week, an Arab Israeli man from Jaffa stabbed to death Rabbi Itamar Ben-Gal at a hitchhiking post near the entrance to the Ariel settlement, in an attack that was caught on surveillance cameras.

Footage from the scene showed the terrorist crossing a road toward Ben-Gal, who was standing in front of a bus stop, and stabbing him.

Ben-Gal then fled across the street with the stabber in pursuit. Medics tried to resuscitate Ben-Gal, who was stabbed three times in the chest. He was taken to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikvah, but succumbed to his wounds.

The terrorist, Abed al-Karim Assi, managed to evade capture following the attack even after an IDF officer hit him with his car while in pursuit. Assi, who holds a blue Israeli identity card, indicating residence in Israel, has been on the run since.

Ben-Gal was laid to rest in Har Bracha last Tuesday. He is survived by his wife and four children.