Rabbis condemn settler funeral chaos

Thousands of settlers attended the funeral procession

The religious authorities in Israel have strongly condemned the way a funeral was conducted for a Jewish settler killed by Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank.

It is a disgrace that this poor murder victim was denied a decent burial for two full days

Yisrael Lau
Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi

The body of 34-year-old Nethanel Ozeri, a far-right settler activist, was buried in Hebron after 16 hours of scuffles among his family and supporters.

Police and soldiers intervened to prevent groups of mourners snatching the corpse for burial in Jerusalem or at the settler outpost where the killing took place, Givat Harsina.

During the funeral hundreds of far-right settlers rampaged through Hebron, smashing Palestinian windows and setting cars ablaze.

The Sephardi Chief Rabbi, Eliahu Bakshi-Doron, said thugs had desecrated the memory of the deceased, while the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, Yisrael Meir Lau, said it was a disgrace that the victim had been denied a decent burial for two days.

"Friends and family have no rights to the deceased, only duties," Mr Lau added.

Mr Ozeri, a father of five, belonged to the banned anti-Arab Kach movement, according to Israeli media.

Protest

The debacle apparently began when Mr Ozeri's widow, Livnat, insisted on burying her husband in Givat Harsina, near the outpost known as Lot 26 where Mr Ozeri was shot dead on Friday night.

The rabbi of nearby Hebron had ruled that Mr Ozeri should be buried in Hebron's Old City cemetery, but as the funeral procession began, a group of mourners snatched the body and fled with it towards Givat Harsina.

Israeli police guarding the funeral prevented the group from reaching Givat Harsina and the procession headed back towards Hebron.

As the cortege passed through Hebron, the car carrying Mr Ozeri's body suddenly veered onto the road to Jerusalem, apparently on Mrs Ozeri's orders.

Israeli media said Mrs Ozeri wanted to protest against the authorities' refusal to allow her husband to be buried at Givat Harsina and planned to parade the casket in front of various government ministries.

The vehicle was chased by police cars with sirens blaring and stopped half way after rabbinical authorities warned Mrs Ozeri that to take her husband's body back out of Jerusalem once it had entered the city would be a dishonour.

Mr Ozeri's body was taken back to Hebron where it was finally buried on Monday morning.