Netanel Ozeri

Jan 17, 2003 - Netanel Ozeri, 34, was killed when terrorists entered his home, in an outpost north of Kiryat Arba, just after the Friday night Shabbat meal and opened fire. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

At about 7:30 P.M. there was a knock on the door. Netanel Azouri, who was suspicious, cocked his pistol before opening the door. The two terrorists immediately opened fire, shooting him in the chest. Netanel friends, who had been invited for dinner, shot back at the terrorists, killing one of them. The second, who fled the scene wounded, was later killed by IDF forces. Azouri's 5-year-old daughter Herut and the two friends were wounded in the fire.

Netanel (Nati) Ozeri, born in Jerusalem, was a student at the Yeshiva of the Jewish Idea established by Rabbi Meir Kahane, and was a study partner of his son, Binyamin Kahane, killed in a terrorist attack in December 2000. Ozeri later went on to teach at the yeshiva in Jerusalem as well as in Kiryat Arba.

A member of the Kach movement, he was a leader of the Hebron community in terms of both settlement and Torah study/teaching. His close friend, Noam Federman, said Netanel was "an interesting and unusual combination, the type of person who stood out as a leader. He was a man of Torah and a man of action." Federman noted that Netanel not only established new settlement outposts and interested youths in settling there, he also made sure to teach them Torah on a regular schedule. He himself moved with his family several years ago from Kiryat Arba to the nearby Hilltop 26, where he engaged in organic farming.

Netanal Ozeri was buried in the old Jewish cemetery in Hebron. He is survived by his parents, his wife Livnat and their five children, ranging in age from 1 ½ to 11: Navit, David, Herut, Yehonatan and Yehuda, the youngest.