Father of Murdered IDF Soldier Says ‘Evil Lovers of Death’ Won’t Erase Positive Memories of His Son

The father of 19-year-old Corporal Dvir Sorek, the IDF soldier who was murdered on August 8, said that the “evil lovers of death” will not erase the positive memories he has of his son, the Times of Israel reports.

Yoav Sorek said in front of thousands of people during Sorek’s funeral in the Ofrat settlement in between Jerusalem and Nabus that his son was going to turn 19 years old “in a few days” and that when he thinks about Sorek, he “can’t avoid smiling because your memory reminds me of a bright face, positive thought, innocence and love for humanity.”

Yoav added that while “evil lovers of death” murdered Sorek, “they did not harm your innocence, light and love. You left us pure, and we will try to bring about light and goodness, to strengthen our family despite the pain and to choose life.”

Sorek was studying at Ohr Torah Stone Robert M. Beren Yeshivat Hesder Machanaim as part of an IDF program for him to study Yeshiva and serve in the military simultaneously. He was walking back from Jerusalem with books he had purchased as gifts for his teachers on the night of August 7 and was found dead with numerous stab wounds on August 8, close to the Migdal Oz community in Gush Etzion. Sorek was not in uniform. 

19-year-old Corporal Dvir Sorek was stabbed and killed in a terrorist attack early this morning, while neither armed nor in uniform, close to the Yeshiva where he was studying.

May his memory be a blessing. pic.twitter.com/JrJdlJGlUM

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) August 8, 2019

Investigators believe there were multiple attackers in the murder.

The president of the yeshiva, Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander, said in a statement, “We are heartbroken over the murder last night of Dvir. He was a student beloved by his friends and respected by his teachers. The loss of this sweet soul and gentle spirit will not deter us from continuing to build the State of Israel through the prism of a love for Israel and love of all humanity.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the site of the attack and said, “We lost Dvir here, a precious member of the Sorek family that also lost its grandfather years ago. Our hearts are with them and we are embracing them at their difficult moment.”

He added that the Israeli government “will settle our score with” Sorek’s murderers and continue to build settlements in Area C of the West Bank.

“They come to destroy and we are building,” Netanyahu said.

No Palestinian terror group has taken responsibility for Sorek’s murder, however, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine all issued statements praising the murder, calling it “heroic” and a means of “resistance” against the Israeli government potentially annexing Area C.

United States Middle East Envoy Jason Greenblatt tweeted, “More murder & boasting by Hamas – reprehensible actions by an org that chooses death & destruction over taking care of the people they claim to lead. Our deepest condolences to the family of 19yr old Dvir Sorek.”

https://twitter.com/jdgreenblatt45/status/1159469758187790336

The Jerusalem Post’s Anna Ahronheim wrote that “the IDF is working on the assumption that [Sorek] was murdered during an attempted kidnapping by a Hamas cell in the West Bank,” although investigators have since determined that there was never an attempt to kidnap Sorek. Ahronheim also noted that Sorek’s murder comes a little more than five years after Hamas kidnapped and murdered three Israelis, which eventually led to Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

“Despite all the cells uncovered by security forces, some will always slip under the radar to carry out deadly attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers,” Ahronheim wrote. “And even when this yet unidentified cell is caught by security forces, all the talk by politicians will not prevent the next terrorist cell from taking the life of another Israeli.”