'You are as much to blame as the terrorists.' Family of fallen Border Police officer Noam Raz excoriate Prime Minister during his visit.

 

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett faced heavy criticism during a condolence call to the family of a fallen Border Police officer Wednesday.

Bennett visited the outpost community of Kida near Shilo in Samaria Wednesday morning, to offer his condolences to the family of Noam Raz, the 47-year-old Border Police officer from the elite Yamam counterterror unit who was killed during an operation in the Jenin area last week.

During the visit, Raz’s eldest son excoriated the prime minister, saying he holds him personally responsible for his father’s death.

“I don’t know how you can look at yourself in the mirror. I blame you, just as I blame the terrorist.”

“You blew your chance. We want to see someone whom we believe in. You don’t deserve to be in the house my father lived in. I hope that you are actually listening and not just nodding.”

“Don’t make us all kinds of promises. From experience we know that nothing will be kept. Stop abandoning our soldiers and police officers. You’ve emasculated them. Officers are being stoned and can’t shoot.”

Raz’s widow, Efrat Raz, demanded to know what steps Bennett has taken to stop the ongoing terror wave.

“Be committed to the truth, look at yourself honestly. Your intentions are good, but your actions are not. You still have time to change, so long as you are in this position. But when you are not loyal to the cause that you were elected to serve, you won’t stay [in power]. We’ve had it with being humiliated, give your people power.”

Noam’s sister told Bennett that she had hoped he would not visit.

“Every day we lack Jewish pride. I can’t travel and wave the Israeli flag. I’m afraid to travel and to come back home, but I do it. There’s no Jewish pride here, but there used to be a prime minister with pride.”

Raz, a paramedic and sniper, was shot and seriously wounded during a firefight with terrorists Friday, and succumbed to his wounds after being airlifted to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa.

His is survived by his wife and six children.

During his visit, protesters gathered in Kida to denounce Bennett and his handling of the ongoing terror wave.