Israeli security forces are conducting the second day of the manhunt for the murderer of Dvir Sorek, a 19-year-old yeshiva student who was stabbed to death on Wednesday night. Officials expanded the are of the search over concerns that the terrorist/s who carried out the attack intend to carry out more attacks as has happened in the past when terrorists were at large after an attack. Two additional battalions have been deployed to Judea and Samaria. This concern is heightened as the Jewish holy day of Tisha B’av and the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha approach.

Officials initially conjectured that the murder was a failed attempt at kidnapping but later revised that opinion and told the media it was a case of premeditated murder.

Sorek left the campus for Jerusalem on Wednesday in order to purchase books as end of the year gifts for his teachers. Friends who noticed he was missing notified authorities and began a search for him. Though the stabbing was carried out by a single individual it is believed that several others assisted in the attack. The initial investigation found that Sorek fought back against his attackers.

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon urged the world body to condemn the murder and to stop payments made by the Palestinian Authority to terrorists and their families.

“The attack and its glorification are the direct result of the Palestinian leadership’s ongoing policy of educating and incentivizing its youth to kill Jews throughout Israel,” Danon wrote in the letter. “I call upon the Security Council to condemn this sickening act of terror immediately, unequivocally and in the strongest terms possible. It is the duty of the Council to put an urgent stop to all Palestinian incitement efforts.”

The attack comes one day after Congressman Rashida Tlaib tweeted that Palestinians are not responsible for terrorism.

Comparing Palestinian human rights advocates to terrorist white nationalists is fundamentally a lie. Palestinians want equality, human dignity & to stop the imprisonment of children ⬇️.

White supremacy is calling for the *domination* of one race w/ the use of violence. https://t.co/vSPTxIZBTq pic.twitter.com/zHQbn1hmEr

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) August 5, 2019

Tlaib is leading a junket of several congressmen in Israel. Similar junkets in the past have met with Palestinian terrorists and several participants have gone on to advocate anti-Israel policies. Rep. Hank Johnson participated in one such junket in 2016 and just a few months later became the focus of criticism for referring to Jews as “termites.”

A statement by Sorek’s yeshiva expressed how special the young man was.

“We are heartbroken over the murder last night of Dvir. He was a student beloved by his friends and respected by his teachers,” said President and Rosh HaYeshiva of Ohr Torah Stone Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander. “The loss of this sweet soul and gentle spirit will not deter us from continuing to build the State of Israel through the prism of a love for Israel and love of all humanity. At the time of his murder, Dvir was on his way back to the Yeshiva after buying books for his teacher. His body was found clutching them,” added Rabbi Brander. “He was a young man who believed in treating every human being in the image of God no matter what religion.”

Sorek lived in Ofra, a  small town in Samaria, and learned in the Ohr Torah Mahanayim yeshiva located between the city of Efrat and Migdal Oz in Gush Etzion. Sorek was killed just days before his 19th birthday and his body was discovered Thursday morning outside the town of Migdal Oz. Sorek was the grandson of Rabbi Binyamin Herling, who was murdered by Palestinian Authority security forces while on a family trip to Mt. Ebal in 2000.

Sorek is survived by parents Yoav and Rachel, and six siblings: Shahar, 24, Noa, 23, Ruth, 21, Binyamin, 15, Eitan,13, and Uri, 9.