Binyamin Achimeir, 14, was buried at Jerusalem’s Har HaMenuchot cemetery on Sunday, a day after his body was found near the Malachei Shalom outpost in the Binyamin region of Samaria.
Achimeir’s body was located on Saturday morning after he went missing 24 hours earlier while shepherding livestock from Gal Farm, located close to the Arab village of al-Mughayyir, 17 miles northeast of Ramallah.
A preliminary investigation indicates that there was a long struggle between Achimeir and his killers, Arutz 7 reported on Sunday. Some of the teenager’s clothing items were reportedly scattered near his body.
“You chose the innocent of heart to be a public sacrifice for all of us, an innocent child who rose [to heaven] to atone for all of us,” his mother, Miriam, said at the funeral on Sunday. “You were all heart, Binny. You always thought of others. You always took everyone into account, you made sure not to offend anyone, not even jokingly.”
Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel David Lau noted in his eulogy that “this is not the first time that we are standing here in front of murdered people who only seek to live in the [holy] land.
“I see the innocent and good faces and say, ‘Master of the Universe, these are Your children.’ Please, do it for the sake of Your children, for the sake of Your people, for the sake of Your land.”
The Israel Defense Forces was continuing to search for the perpetrators on Sunday.
In a rare Saturday statement by office, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned “the heinous murder” of the young shepherd.
“We will get the murderers and those who helped them, as we do to all who harm the citizens of the State of Israel,” the prime minister said. “I send my heartfelt condolences to his family,” added the statement.
According to data collected by Israeli authorities, Arab aggression and terror against Jewish shepherds has been on the rise in recent months.
“Jewish farmers are grazing their sheep in open areas; Arabs don’t like that, even if it happens in Area C [of Judea and Samaria, where Israeli communities are located]. They’re trying to stop them by using violence,” an official responsible for documenting illegal Arab activities told JNS last year.
Between Oct. 7 and Jan. 15 alone, Hatzalah Judea and Samaria recorded more than 2,600 terrorist attacks against Israelis in the area, including 760 cases of rock-throwing, 551 fire bombings, 12 attempted or successful stabbings and nine vehicular assaults.
