Noam Raz's son to Bennet: "I blame you the same way the terrorist blames me""

May 18, 2022   

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett arrived this morning (Wednesday) in the settlement of Kida in Binyamin to visit the family of a fighter in the IDF, Lt. Col. Noam Raz, who was seriously injured in an IDF operation in the village of Burkin in the Jenin area last week and died of his wounds at Rambam Hospital in Haifa. During the visit, Bari, Raz's eldest son, addressed Prime Minister Naftali Bennett with harsh words and told him: "I don't know how you look at yourself in the mirror. I blame you as much as I blame the terrorist." "You ruined your opportunity. We want to see someone we believe in. You don't deserve to be in the house my father lives in. I hope you're listening and not just nodding." The son added: "Don't make us promises, from past experience, nothing ever comes true. Stop abandoning the soldiers and police officers in the country. You've neutered them. You're throwing stones at police officers and they don't shoot." One of the family members to Bennett: "Want a glass of water? Because there is currently a water cut in Kuda." Barry: "Don't promise us anything, based on past experience it doesn't happen anyway. Enough with the mind-numbing nonsense. Start with actions." The widow Efrat Raz demanded that the prime minister not evade the question of what he personally did in his position to stop terrorism. The widow: "The Arabs are raising their heads, they are allowing themselves to be influenced." Bennett: We are working, the security forces... The widow: "Leave the security forces, they are doing their thing and they did it before you too. What are you doing? "Be true to the truth, look yourself in the eye. Your intentions are desirable but your actions are undesirable. There is still time to change, as long as you are in this chair. When you are not true to the essence for which you were elected, you will not be here. We are done being humiliated, give courage to your people." Noam's sister admitted that she had hoped that Bennett would not come to Nehem at all. "We lack Jewish pride in our daily lives. I cannot travel and wave a flag. "I'm afraid to travel and return home, but I do it. There is no Jewish pride here, the prime minister used to be proud.".

Protest against Bennett in Kida, outside the Raz family home. pic.twitter.com/FsmvcohsuF

— Torat Combat (@Torat_IDF) May 18, 2022

After the visit, Prime Minister Bennett tweeted on his Twitter account: "The family of the IDF fighter Noam Raz, the late, is a pioneering family that lived a life of dedication and Zionism in the settlement of Kida. They lost Noam, who was a rare figure with humility and strength. I came to be with them. The family members of an Israeli hero have the full right to tell me everything that is on their hearts, and my job is to hear and listen." Bennett deliberately brought his arrival to the family home early, due to the fear that he would encounter demonstrations. However, many protest signs against the Prime Minister's arrival in the settlement had already been placed in the area last night. By the time he left the settlement, many protesters had arrived at Kida - shouting at him: "Bennett, you crook, you liar." Noam Raz, the late, enlisted in the IDF in 1999 and served for about 23 years in the unit as a fighter, paramedic, burglar and sniper. He participated in hundreds of counter-terrorism operations, risking himself and saving lives. Raz is survived by his wife Efrat and their six children: Bari, Eitam, Benya, Segev, Neve and Halili.