By the thousands they streamed to Yanuh-Jat, Israelis of every description making their way on Wednesday to the remote northern Galilee district, where a fallen hero was to be buried with full honors. Israels president, Reuven Rivlin, was there to pay his respects; so were the minister of internal security and the nations top police commissioner. From around the country, hundreds of black-hatted haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jews came on chartered buses, disembarking to join throngs of Arabic-speaking Druze in traditional white turbans, police officers in dress blues, and so many other mourners that even the roofs of nearby homes were crowded with onlookers. They had come to bid farewell to Zidan Saif, the Druze police officer who was the first responder on the scene of Tuesdays massacre at a synagogue in Jerusalem. Saif had put himself between the terrorists and the worshipers, taking a bullet in the head and dying of his wounds that night. Befitting a defender who had died in the line of duty, his coffin was draped with Israels flag, its blue Star of David prominently centered. Like many of the Jewish states loyal sons and heroes, Saif wasnt Jewish. That didnt make him any less an Israeli, just as Israels sizeable Arab and non-Jewish minorities dont make it any less the sovereign Jewish homeland. Nor did it diminish even slightly the honor and gratitude Israelis across the spectrum expressed for the slain officer. In his eulogy, Israels president extolled Saif as one of the first guardians of Jerusalem. A rabbi from the Jerusalem synagogue where the bloodbath had occurred told residents of the village he had come simply to be with you and to cry with you, and called the devotion and the determination of the 30-year-old patrolman an example to us all.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 03:19:02 +0000
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