Barak visits Mercaz Harav

By · March 11, 2008

Israel’s defense minister visited the Mercaz Harav yeshiva to learn firsthand how last week’s massacre unfolded.

Ehud Barak made an unannounced trip late Monday to the Jerusalem yeshiva, where witnesses to the attack by a Palestinian terrorist explained to him where and how each of his eight victims died.

The gunman’s spree March 6 was cut short when an off-duty Israeli army officer and an armed student both shot him dead.

Barak was quoted as consoling the yeshiva on its losses but saying there was no guarantee such an attack would not recur. There is no choice but to continue fighting Palestinian terror, the defense minister said.

Barak’s polite reception at Mercaz Harav was in marked contrast to the heckling of Israeli Education Minister Yuli Tamir, a noted left-wing activist, when she tried to visit the yeshiva. Tamir left after being called “murderer.”

Mercaz Harav’s staff has also been quoted as saying that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is persona non grata due to his pursuit of peace talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.