Two teenage victims of Arab terror were buried Sunday night, but no government official attended the eulogies, nor did the government issue the usual warnings to the PA against terror.

The government was uncharacteristically silent as mourners accompanied Avichai Levi, 17 (pictured above), of Bet Haggai, and Aviad Mantzur, 16, of Otniel to the Mount of Olives Cemetery. Politicians and representatives of the government were at the burial ceremony, but no one traveled to the homes of the slain boys to speak at the beginning of the funeral processions. The government also did not repeat its usual refrain after terror attacks that it will stop its “good will” measures until the Palestinian Authority (PA) curtails terror.

Avichai, who studied at the Kiryat Arba high school, died immediately after the attack. Aviad, who was a student at the Susia yeshiva high school, died early Sunday morning. They were murdered by Arab terrorists from Hevron while attempting to enter a car that stopped for them while they were hitchhiking outside of Bet Haggai.

Hevron Brigade Commander Lt. Col. Moti Baruch attended both eulogies. Several hundred friends and neighbors crowded around the families’ houses. He said Saturday that the terrorists succeeded in their mission of terror because the army had lifted travel restrictions on Hevron Arabs as “good will” measures.

Chava Levi, mother of Avichai, said at eulogies for her son, “I am afraid what the evacuation will do to the people of Israel more than I am afraid of the evacuation [itself]. Avichai, ask [from the Almighty], for mom, that the Almighty guard the people of Israel. Heaven forbid that will be a division and civil war. I am at ease because I know you did not die go to Heaven in vain, I am prepared to pay the price because I know you completed your mission here and you are prepared for your mission in heaven.”

The funerals procession stopped in Jerusalem by the house of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Southern Hevron Hills Regional Council leader Tzviki Bar Chai said, “Mr. Prime Minister, you are struck with the ‘prime minister syndrome’ that says that fleeing under fire of a murderous enemy will bring security. You have not learned what leadership is. You are not worthy to lead us. You have finished your role.”

Ariel Lipshitz said at the eulogies for his classmate Aviad, “We are confused. We don’t understand that you, Aviad, are not with us.” Aviad, the oldest of five children, was very active in Bnei Akiva and was respected as a very serious student who always was smiling and full of happiness.

The Mantzur family home often served as an open house for friends and relatives of terror victims. Arab terrorists have murdered several people, including other students, at both Otniel and Bet Haggai

This entry was posted on Monday, June 27th, 2005 and is filed under hotnews.