World
Israeli PM at Teens’ Funeral: ‘Broad Moral Gulf’ Between Us, Enemy
Avi and Rachel Fraenkel embrace during the funeral of their son, Naftali, a 16-year-old with dual Israeli-American citizenship, in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Nof Ayalon, Tuesday, July 1, 2014. (AP Photo/Tomer Appelbaum)
(CNN) — Mourning three slain Israeli teens at a funeral Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the day “has spontaneously become a national day of mourning.”
The three “gifted, pure, honest and decent” teens were “cut down by the hands of evil men,” he said, calling those behind the attack “murderers.”
“A broad moral gulf separates us from our enemies. They sanctify death, we sanctify life. They sanctify cruelty, and we mercy and compassion. That is the secret of our strength.
“That is also the foundation of our unity. Throughout the history of our people, we have proved time and again — in view of the horrors that we have experienced, the grief and sorrow — the force of life that pulsates within us overcomes the forces of death,” Netanyahu said in Hebrew, according to a CNN translation.
