Israel Mourns Couple Killed in Drive-by Shooting
JERUSALEM, Israel -- All Israel is mourning the death of young parents killed in a drive-by shooting Wednesday evening between the Samarian communities of Itamar and Elon Moreh, with their four children in the back seat.
Eitam, 31, and Na'ama Henkin, 30, from the nearby community of Neria were laid to rest Friday morning in Jerusalem's Har Hamenuchot cemetery.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Chief Rabbi David Lau were among the hundreds of mourners who attended the funeral.
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The attack took place hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke out against Palestinian Authority incitement at the U.N. General Assembly.
Following the attack, Netanyahu blamed the P.A.'s baseless accusations against Israel over Temple Mount rioting, saying it served to incite murderous attacks such as this one and contrasting the P.A.'s silence with Israeli condemnation of last month's arson attack that took the lives of an Arab couple and their young son.
"We've witnessed how they have spoken of our 'cruel acts' on the Temple Mount, a charge that is baseless," Netanyahu said from New York. "Unfortunately, these kinds of words have consequences."
"Compare this to the silence of the Palestinian leadership now, I have not heard their condemnation," he added.
The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the so-called armed wing of the PLO's (Palestine Liberation Organization) Fatah party, claimed responsibility for the murders.
Magen David Adom paramedics pronounced the couple dead at the scene of multiple gunshots to their upper torsos. Aside from the trauma of seeing their parents shot dead in front of them, their four sons, aged 4 months, 4, 7 and 9, sustained light injuries.
According to initial reports, the terrorists fired at paramedics before speeding off toward a nearby Arab village. The IDF cordoned off the area and set up multiple roadblocks as they searched for the killers.
"Gun shots fired at a civilian vehicle slaughtered two in front of their four children," IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said in a statement Thursday evening. "The IDF is operating to pursue and locate those responsible for this ruthless, heinous, barbaric attack."
