Yoav Sorek has a number of things he hopes for when he imagines the death of his son Dvir, 18, in Wednesday’s West Bank stabbing terror attack outside the Migdal Oz settlement.
He shared those thoughts with reporters as he stood at the street corner near his family’s home in the Ofra settlement, wearing a black T-shirt, torn, torn in a manner customary for Jewish mourners in the first week following a death.
The family has not received an official report regarding the details of his son’s death, an event which the IDF is still investigating as it continues to scour the West Bank for the terror cell that killed Dvir, the middle child of a family of seven.
“I hope that it unfolded as I imagined it, that he was walking and was stabbed from behind and was not able to see his killers evil face,” Sorek said.He added that he hoped his son left this world with the same innocence in which he lived his life and ascended to heaven on the merits of that life rather than because he engaged in a battle with his killer that ultimately failed.
Visits by ministers and parliamentarians to the family’s home as it sits in mourning have been helpful, but the public statements have not soothed them, he said. This has included statements either about settling scores with the killers or promises to officially authorize the Ofra settlement, apply sovereignty to the settlements or approve more settler construction.
“I do not like this conversation, because sacrifice shouldn’t fuel our [settlement] enterprise here,” he said. “This place should be [fully] authorized because it should, and not because someone died. I don’t want to benefit from the loss of life.
"We are not right because we are to be pitied, and if we are to be pitied, that must be dealt with separately," Sorek continued. "And if we are right, we are right."He said that Dvir was born in Jerusalem, but that it is as if he was born in Ofra. The family held Dvir's circumcision in the front lawn of their family's home, the same place where they are mourning his loss right now.
“That was almost 19 years ago, and even then this place was not [fully] authorized and it’s still not [fully] authorized, but that has nothing to do with tragedy," Sorek said.
But he did note that he hopes Dvir's murderers are killed rather than captured. Still, he recognizes that no matter what fate awaits them, “Dvir will not return to us.”
Dvir was not wearing an IDF uniform and had not started his IDF training, but technically speaking he had already started his service with his studies in the military Hesder program at Yeshiva Machanaim, Sorek explained.
“We never saw him in uniform, because his induction was scheduled for March," he said. "Now that will never happen."