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Bereaved son slams Bennett, ‘I blame you like I blame the terrorist’

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“You do not deserve to be in the house my father lived in,” the son of Noam Raz, who was killed during a conterterrorism operation in Jenin, told the prime minister.

By World Israel News Staff

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett did not get a warm welcome, to say the least, when he arrived at the home of fallen IDF counterterrorism fighter Noam Raz Wednesday morning.

Bennett and Commissioner of Police Kobi Shabtai arrived at the bereaved family’s home in Kida, in the Binyamin region of Samaria, to pay a condolence call. Raz, a 47-year-old father of six, was killed during an exchange of fire with Palestinian terrorists in Jenin Friday morning.

Bennett was scheduled to arrive at 9 a.m. but instead appeared an hour earlier, perhaps in order to avoid planned protests against his leadership outside the home. Upon hearing of the prime minister’s arrival, however, demonstrators began congregating, Hebrew media reported.

“I do not know how you can look at yourself in the mirror. I blame you like I blame the terrorist,” Raz’s son told Bennett, according to several reports.

“You ruined your opportunity. We want to see someone we believe in. You do not deserve to be in the house my father lives in,” the son continued. “I hope you are listening and not just nodding.”

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Raz’s widow then began criticizing the premier as well, bemoaning the deteriorating security situation. When Bennett began speaking about the security forces doing their job, TPS reported, she interrupted him, asking, “What are you doing?”

Noam’s sister lamented what she said was a lack of Jewish pride, while the enemy is getting bolder, according to the TPS report. “I can’t wave a flag of independence. I’m afraid to drive [on the roads] and come back, but I’m doing it.”

“You still have time to change direction,” she added.

Former prime minister and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu arrived at the home later in the day and was warmly welcomed by the family and neighborhood.

Several reports indicated that this was Bennett’s first in-person condolence call to a bereaved family since the beginning of the current terror wave in late March that claimed 19 lives and wounded several others.