Benjamin Netanyahu Makes Emotional Visit To Family of Murdered 13-Year-Old Girl
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to strengthen the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, a major friction point between Palestinians and settlers following the murder of a 13-year-old girl in her bedroom.
On Friday, his office said in a statement, Netanyahu spoke with the parents and other family members during an emotional visit to their home in the occupied West Bank.
“We strengthen this place. Apart from the fighting, we will make it stronger,” he said. “I will sit with the Defense Minister and we will decide how to strengthen the community.”
To see Ariel’s room, “to see the blood stains next to her bed and the books and clothes of a small child, this is shocking,” Netanyahu added during his visit to the settlement Friday. “It reminds us again who we are facing. They want to uproot what has been planted and we will deepen the roots. They will not make us leave here. I was impressed by this splendid family. Their spirit will not break and neither will ours. We will deepen the roots.”
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO