Netanyahu visits family of slain teen, vows ‘to defend our homeland’

“We will continue deepening roots and fighting as long as it proves necessary, and to my regret, it is necessary,” Netanyahu added.

By World Israel News Staff

Tuesday would have been Dvir Sorek’s 19th birthday.

Last week, however, he was stabbed to death in a terror attack in Judea.

Marking the slain student’s birthday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Sorek family home in the Samarian community of Ofra during the course of the seven-day “shiva” mourning period.

“We are determined to defend our homeland… until our enemies understand that we cannot be uprooted from anywhere in the Land of Israel,” the prime minister vowed, speaking to reporters outside the home.

“We will continue deepening roots and fighting as long as it proves necessary, and to my regret, it is necessary,” Netanyahu added.

Referring to Dvir’s birthday, his father, Yoav, lamented that his son’s circumcision, conducted according to Jewish law when he was eight days old, had taken place in the same synagogue from where his funeral procession set out last Thursday.

He said that instead of celebrating Dvir’s birthday, “we are now sitting shiva.”

President Reuven Rivlin and U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman paid a condolence call to the family on Monday.

The Israeli military announced in a statement released on Saturday that members of the terror cell that killed Sorek had been arrested and that the car they used in the attack was seized.

The two suspects were identified by the Shin Bet security agency as Nasir Asafra, 24, and his cousin Qassem Asafra, 30, both of Beit Kahil in the Hebron area.

At least one belonged to the Hamas terror group. The organization, which operates out of the Gaza Strip, has been making efforts to build up terror cells in Judea and Samaria, reports say.