Thousands of people on Sunday night attended the funeral of Ari Fuld, who was murderedby a terrorist at the Gush Etzion junction, at the cemetery in Kfar Etzion.
Yona Fuld, Ari's father, eulogized him and said: "Zion is crying and the Land of Israel is crying. Ari affected thousands all over the world." The father said that his son would receive thousands of letters from all over the world, including from Saudi Arabia, noting that "he was the hero of everyone."
"If we asked him, he would say that this how he wanted to leave the world," the father added. "I can only be satisfied that the entire nation of Israel is grieving today for a true hero, a hero who is like a lion."
Ari's brother, Moshe Fuld, eulogized him and said, "So many people came here to pay their last respects to him. If there is one word to describe my brother, it is ‘hero’, simply a hero."
The brother added, "Who else can deal with a terrorist, take out a gun, jump over a fence and shoot the terrorist so that he does not harm others? Ari, I'm so sorry that I did not tell you about your greatness. You are a true giant.
Ari Fuld, a 45-year-old immigrant from the US and resident of the Gush Etzion town of Efrat, stabbed in the back by a 17-year-old Arab terrorist from the Hevron area. Before collapsing, Fuld managed to shoot the terrorist together with help of another civilian and a security guard. The terrorist was moderately wounded.
Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home), Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud), and MK Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) paid a condolence visit to the home of Fuld family.
During the visit, Minister Bennett spoke with Fuld’s family, who shared some of the family history going back to the Holocaust and through to their decision to move to Israel.
“He is an Israeli hero who in death saved others,” Bennett said.
Netanyahu also eulogized Fuld as a "hero of Israel", telling reporters shortly after his condolence call that Israelis would "always remember him".
"I met tonight the wonderful parents and brothers of the wonderful hero of Israel, Ari Fuld. I embraced them in the name of all the people of Israel during their terrible grief. We're alive, thanks to heroes like Ari. We will always remember him."