Thousands Attend Funeral Of Family Members Killed In Palestinian Terror Attack

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Thousands attended the funeral of three members of a family killed in a Palestinian stabbing attack.
Yosef Salomon, 70, and his children Chaya Salomon, 46, and Elad Salomon, 36, were buried on Sunday afternoon at the cemetery in the central Israel city of Modiin.
Yosef Salomon’s wife, Tovah, 68, who was seriously injured in the attack, was allowed to leave the hospital for the funeral. Several of the mourners carried large Israeli flags throughout the funeral, according to reports. Some 10,000 mourners were expected to attend the funeral.
The three were killed and one injured when Palestinian attacker Omar al-Abed, 19, from the nearby Palestinian village of Kobar, entered the home and began stabbing the family members, who had gathered at the Salomon home to celebrate the birth of a baby to another of the senior Salomon’s sons.
Michal Solomon, the wife of Elad, who ran with the children to the safety of an upstairs room which she locked and then called security services, in a eulogy called him the “perfect husband” and her best friend. “Now you are not here for me and it scares me,” she said. “In the last two days I have received so much strength from people I don’t know. You don’t know how much you have helped me,” she also said.
“Only someone with no remnant of humanity could raise their hand against Yossi and his family. Yossi that made everyone he came across happy. The Salomon family household was based on making other people happy,” the rabbi of Halamish, Yonatan Glass, said in a statement read on his behalf.
The mayor of the city of Elad, home to Elad Salomon and his family, vowed to double and triple the size of the city located on the seam between central Israel and the West Bank.
Hello, fellow Forward reader! I’m Joel Brown, a Forward reader and supporter for more than 15 years, and currently the chair of the board of directors.
I’m an avid Forward reader because it ticks so many of my essential boxes: excellent journalism, Jewish focus and diverse viewpoints. In today’s political climate, what I most appreciate is the Forward’s independence — made possible by the generosity of its membership.
The Forward is committed to bringing you unbiased, nuanced Jewish news. From my position as board chair, I see an exciting future as we expand our position as the definitive independent voice of contemporary American Judaism.
That’s why I’m paying it Forward, by matching $36,000 of reader gifts. It’s an investment in the Forward’s newsroom, to continue telling the American Jewish story with truth and independence.
— Joel Brown, Forward board chair
