President Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin was Menachem Avel on the Prezuazman family, whose son Pinchas Menachem HY”D was killed yesterday by flying shrapnel in Ashdod. Rivlin was also Menachem Avel the Agadi family, whose father Moshe was killed on Motzei Shabbos in a rocket attack on Askhelon; and paid a condolence call to the al-Hamamda (Bedouin) family whose father Ziad was killed yesterday in the rocket attack on the factory in Ashkelon.

The president was joined at the Prezuazman home together with deputy health minister Yaakov Litzman who is also a Gerrer Chosid to which the family belongs. During the visit, he told the family that the death of their son, father and husband was an unbearable loss. “We say ‘Blessed is the true judge’ and we know that there is no consolation for such terrible grief as this. We are with you in the true prayer that you will only know happy occasions in the future.”

President Rivlin continued to Askhelon, where he visited the Agadi family, which is mourning for Moshe. He sat beside members of the family, his mother, wife brother and sisters and their children, and said that the wonderful family that Moshe left behind is another testimony to the man he was, his good heart and his great love for the people and the country. “Beloved grandma and mother,” said the president to Moshe’s mother, “we are praying with you that your pain will be lessened by the comfort brought by your grandchildren and great-grandchildren and by your whole family.”

The president then visited the al-Hamamda family, who lost their father Ziad, in Segev Shalom. The president, accompanied by Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Uri Ariel met Ziad’s family members and children, who thanked him for coming. “I do everything I can to visit all Israelis who are in such terrible grief from terrorist attacks. We, the tribes of Israel, are together in good times and bad, in hope and in difficulty, regardless of which tribe we are from. Ultra-Orthodox, secular, religious and traditional, Jews and Arabs – terror strikes us all without discrimination and without mercy and we will never surrender to it. We are together in celebration and in consolation and I pray with all my might that you will know no more sorrow.”

Attached photo credits: Mark Neiman (GPO)

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)