Dozens of friends and acquaintances of Genadi Kofman, who passed away on December 30 after being stabbed and critically wounded in Hevron three weeks earlier, took part in a moving memorial for the terror victim to mark 30 days since his passing.
The memorial took place at the ancient cemetery in Hevron, and also included IDF officers who came to pay respects to Kofman, who was murdered by an Arab terrorist adjacent to the Cave of Machpelah where the Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs other than Rachel are buried.
Pesach Panshevsky, a close friend of Kofman, told Arutz Sheva that “everyone remembers him always being with a smile and jokes.”
“He would help people and do what they asked of him without questions and without making excuses. It’s a very difficult feeling,” added Panshevsky.
He noted the park that is being established in Kofman’s name, saying, “we are establishing a park in his memory with the plant that he loved and his wife also loves – roses.”
This coming Tuesday a ceremony to open the park will be held, with Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) to take part in the proceedings.
Also taking part in the memorial was Kiryat Arba regional chair Yisrael Bramson, who said, “on one hand there’s a strong stand by the town, people are not recoiling and continue to conduct their normal lives. On the other hand, we call on the security forces to strengthen the presence on the roads.”
“We also call on the people of Israel to strengthen the Cave of Machpelah,” he added.
Hevron activist Baruch Marzel of the Otzma Yehudit party has been protesting at the site of Kofman’s murder since the attack, and last Sunday after Dafna Meir’s murder at her home in nearby Otniel he demanded that IDF regional commanders quit.
“For many months we are under a murderous assault and the only response in the Hevron region is: ‘defense and more defense.’ You don’t defeat terror with defense, the time has come to switch to offense attacking the terrorists and their accomplices. The IDF can win but unfortunately the IDF today doesn’t want to and is afraid of winning,” Marzel said.
