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Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday morning 9 Shevat, visited the community of Otniel in the S. Hebron Hills following the stabbing attack that claimed the life of resident Mrs. Dafna Meir HY”D, who was murdered in front of the family home.

At the start of the visit, he and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon received security briefings from IDF Central District Commander Major-General Roni Numa, the IDF Yehuda Brigade commander and other security officials. They also met with Hebron Hills Regional Council Chairman Yochai Damari. Afterwards, Prime Minister Netanyahu paid a condolence call on the family of the late Mrs. Meir and spoke with her husband and children.

Mr. Netanyahu said “I just met with a marvelous family with great strength of spirit. They are Zionists, patriots, humane, who lost a wonderful wife and mother. I think that everyone who sees Dafna’s picture is immediately impressed by the light emanating from it. Whoever hears about her and her contributions understands that she was a special person. The public gets a healthy feeling from the picture, from her story; they immediately understand the uniqueness of this soul that was taken from us. I found the same spirit in the family, in Natan and the children. They asked me only one thing – that we continue to lift up the Jewish People.

“I am here, in this place, and say that, not only will we fight our enemies and demolish the home of the terrorist and revoke the work permits and all other actions that were carried out, and will be carried out by the IDF, which has apprehended the murderer, but something else must be said: Whoever wants to see the truth about the roots of the conflict between us and the Palestinians should come to Otniel and see here a wonderful family that only wants coexistence and peace.

“They should see the young people, inflamed by incitement, who come to murder women here, a mother of six, and in Tekoa, a pregnant woman; they come to murder them and say: We will destroy you all, in Tel Aviv and Yaffo as well. This is the truth. There is humanity here and the desire for peace and coexistence on one side and boundless hatred on the other. This hatred has an address; this is incitement by the Palestinian Authority and other elements such as the Islamic Movement and Hamas, and the time has come for the international community to stop its hypocrisy and call the child by its name.

“The root of the conflict is the refusal to recognize the Jews’ right to a have a state within any borders, here, in Tel Aviv, anywhere. I want to spread this truth to the world and I want us to stand on the truth because the truth will win in the end, and so will we.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)