The late Shmuel Ben-Artzi, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's father-in-law, who was a writer, poet and educator, was laid to rest in Jerusalem on Friday. Among those in attendance at the funeral were President Shimon Peres, Rabbis Yisrael Meir Lau and Yona Metzger, government ministers and MKs, friends, and family members including his sons, his daughter Sara and son-in-law the prime minister, and their two sons, Yair and Avner. During Netanyahu's eulogy for Ben-Artzi, the prime minister called his father-in-law, "a man who had conventional wisdom and wisdom of the heart, one of the most truly outstanding individuals of our generation." The prime minister said, "I never met anyone who knew him, who wasn't captivated by his personality, who wasn't enchanted by his modesty and his sensitivity, by the depth of his knowledge and the good of his heart, by his down-to-earth manners and his life story." Netanyahu also spoke about the devotion with which his wife nursed her father. "[Sara] nursed and took care of him with endless devotion, until his last moments, just as she had done previously with her mother, Eve. The doctors and nurses said they never saw such filial respect as that practiced by Sara toward her parents: in the endless discussions she had with the wonderful doctors who worked hard to extend the lives of her parents, in the daily care she gave them, in the long weeks and months during which she sat next to their beds at the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital, until the very last moment in which no one could do anything to save them anymore." He said, "she touched us all with her spirit." Addressing his deceased father-in-law, Netanyahu said, "I promise you, Shmuel, that your new home that you built here in the state of Israel amid memories of the Holocaust, our national homeland which we built here collectively, we will defend at all costs." During the funeral ceremony, other eulogies were read, including by Ben-Artzi's two grandchildren, Avner and Yair. Yair said, among other things, "My grandfather, my loved one. You were the heart and soul of our family. When you came to live with us a little more than a year ago, our house was filled with light, joy and love. This was the happiest year of my life. You were lucky to have an extraordinary daughter, whose love and care for you knew no boundaries. You were the center of her life." After the funeral ceremony, the attendees sang the Betar Movement anthem. The late Shmuel Ben-Artzi fought with the Irgun military organization that operated during the British Mandate of Palestine, and he was buried in the Irgun fighters area in the Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem.
Get the Israel Hayom newsletter sent to your mailbox!
Like our newsletter? 'Like' our Facebook page!
