Jerusalem – Thousands paid their respects to Shalom Yochai Sherki, 25, who succumbed on Thursday morning to grave injuries he received when a car that slammed into a bus stop that he was standing by on Wednesday night, April 15 on French Hill.
Police in Jerusalem have indicated that there is a strong case that the motive for the driver who struck Sherki and a 20-year-old woman may have been nationalistic. Israel’s Chief of Police Yohanan Danino said on the Thursday, April 16, that first suspicions indicate that the car slamming was a terror attack, “especially in light of the fact that the incident took place on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day.”
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The driver of the car is a 37-year-old Arab man from the Anata village near Jerusalem. He was also injured and following medical treatment will be questioned by the Shin Bet.
At the funeral, Shalom’s father, Rabbi Uri Sherki, said that his son saved the woman standing next to him. “Go dear son, it is not difficult because your noble soul is ascending straight to the King of Peace.”
Sherki is the brother of Israeli Channel 2 News reporter, Yair Sherki, and the son of a prominent Orthodox Rabbi Uri Sherki. Shalom Sherki worked as a tour guide in ‘Masa Israel’, a program that strengthens Jewish, Zionist and Israeli identity among Israeli teenagers and soldiers. He was also a counselor at the Bnei-Zvi Yeshiva in Beit-El.
Representatives of the Bnei-Zvi Yeshiva told Tazpit News Agency that “Sherki was a wonderful man, full of life, with a constant smile on his face. He always wanted to help. He taught his students the importance of giving and loving God. We have yet to grasp the death of this special man”.
After standing during the siren in honor of Holocaust Memorial Day, the head of the Bnei-Zvi Yeshiva said that “Sherki has joined the millions of Jews who died in the Holocaust only because they were Jewish”.
The Beit-El Regional Council also spoke with Tazpit News Agency, saying: “Beit-El is in mourning together with the Sherki family over the murder of Shalom Sherki in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem yesterday. We send our condolences to his father, Rabbi Uri Sherki and brother Yair, and to the entire family”.
Shalom Sherki’s funeral took place today at 17:00 in Jerusalem’s Givat Shaul Har Hamenuchot Cemetery.
The mother, Ada, of the 20-year-old girl who was hit in the car ramming last night has asked the public to pray for her daughter, Shira, who is in serious but stable condition at Hadassah Ein Karem hospital. She also said that her family offers their condolences to the Sherki family.
If the police conclude that this was indeed a terrorist attack, it will be the eighth such car-ramming incident within the past seven months where Palestinians have run over both soldiers and civilians.
H”YD. heartbreaking
This was the eight car ramming incident in the last seven months which averages more than one incident per month which is an outrage to say the least! The only possible prevention from allowing such terror murderous acts from continuing monthly is to prohibit ALL and any owned and/or operated Arab vehicle from entering Jerusalem streets, and any violators will be sent to jail. There is no reason for innocent men, women, and children to wait in total fear for their bus or train going to work, school, or home! These murderers are terrorizing the Isaeli law abiding population and extreme action must be taken immediately if motor vehicles are being used as deadly killing machines which they have been on a monthly basis like clockwork!
These “accidents” occur far too often, and that explains why the Shin Bet is now involved. Imagine if here in Brooklyn, a car just happened to crash into a bus shelter stop where people are waiting, once every month. The frequency is outrageously disproportionate and must not be considered “accidental.”