On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara arrived at Har Bracha in Samaria to visit the Yaniv family who lost their two sons, Hillel Menachem Yaniv, age 21, and Yagel Ya’acov Yaniv, age 19, in the murderous attack in Hawara on Sunday. This visit was consistent with Jewish tradition in which the family mourns at home for seven days and friends come to comfort them.
The Prime Minister spoke with the parents, Esther (Esti) and Shalom, and heard about Hillel’s love for the land of Israel and the Jewish people. Netanyahu addressed the parents, paraphrasing a section of the Talmud, saying, “The land of Israel is acquired through suffering and there is no greater suffering than what you have experienced,” adding, “This abominable murder, if they could, they would murder us all, until the last one. They want to uproot us from our homeland. We need to deepen our roots, our presence here, and in the end this is the battle in which we will win. And we will win”.
Netanyahu referred to Gush Katif where Esther gew up and from which the Jews were expelled by the Israeli government in 2005.
“Look at what was here [in Samaria] 50 years ago and what we have here today,” Netanyahu said. “What you went through in Gush Katif, that expulsion, will not happen again. The opposite will happen. We will not uproot the Jews. We will build.”
The father requested that the Prime Minister increase his efforts for the Jewish settlement of Samaria.
“We need your comfort and support in Har Bracha, in Samaria,” Shalom said. “We need you in action, if there is any comfort for us it is that our sons did not fall in vain. We must see that the Land of Israel is truly being built. God willing, we will yet arise from our brokenness and we will dance with joy like children.”
“I am happy that at least they are watching over each other up there,” he added.
The head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, thanked the Prime Minister for the visit and said: “Mr. Prime Minister, all the settlements in Samaria are being strengthened in this difficult week by two things; one is this amazing family, who are only interested in spreading light and doing good.”
“The second thing, and it is important for me to say this here to both you and your wife, you are going in the right direction on the issue of settlement, and this is important on behalf of all the residents of Samaria along with the dear family here. We will pick up the pieces together, and together with you, we will strengthen Har Bracha and build a large city here and reach one million residents in Samaria.”
The mother, Esti, told Netanyahu that her sons “were very special children”.
“God took them,”she said. “They were both special in their army service and in kindness, and in their learning of Torah. This is the strength of the settlement here. This is what is so special. This is their home here. I know that I don’t know what awaits me.”
One of the sisters asked Netanyahu to act on the issue of security.
“I will live here and continue to live here, no matter what,” she said. “This is my land, this is my country. My grandparents fought here, and we will continue to travel here. We just want to travel here safely.”
The sister added that she was attacked three times this month while driving and said that it is impossible to continue like this.
“Why are there so many families victims of terrorism?” she asked. “Something must be done. There is an amazing community here, who travel here every day, passing through Hawara, and we will continue to travel there because this is my road , this is my country.”
“I am shouting from the bottom of my heart, this reality cannot be allowed to continue,” she said. “It is impossible to hold this inside. It is inconceivable. it is the blood of my brothers and of the entire people of Israel.”
