Netanyahu makes a surprising confession

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech today (Thursday) at the "Every Person Has a Name" ceremony in the Knesset, dedicating his address to the memory of his father-in-law's family members, the educator and poet Shmuel Ben Artzi, of blessed memory, who perished in the Holocaust. Netanyahu shared his father-in-law's personal story with the public: a story of parting, pioneering, and unrelenting pain.

"In 1933, my late father-in-law, Shmuel Ben Artzi, then Shmuel Hon, left his hometown of Bilgoraj, via Warsaw, to immigrate to the Land of Israel. His father, Moshe, accompanied him the entire way, trying every possible means to persuade him not to make the journey to Israel.

He tried to convince him with the values he had brought from home, which Shmuel deeply cherished. He even said to him: 'There’s nothing for you there. What will you do there? Look at what we have here.'

Shmuel was very torn because, on the one hand, he deeply loved his father, his brothers, and sisters, especially his twin sister, Yehudit. But on the other hand, he desperately wanted to be a pioneer in the Land of Israel and a pioneer of the Novardok Yeshiva, an elite institution. He would build its foundation in Bnei Brak," the Prime Minister described.

"In the end, he decided to go," Netanyahu recounted. "For eight years, he worked in an orchard. Later, he became an educator, leaving his mark on many generations, including people who have served in the Knesset, and the media still speaks of him. 'The Educator': that’s how they defined him. He was also a Bible scholar. Ben-Gurion invited him to the first Bible study group he held. I believe Shmuel was the only person in the country to receive both the Etzel and Haganah awards. He married Chava, of blessed memory, and they had three sons and a daughter, my wife Sara, a dozen grandchildren, and great-grandchildren who continue to be born," the Prime Minister described.

The Prime Minister noted that "Shmuel was also a poet. He received the K. Zetnik Prize for Holocaust Literature. He used to send part of his orchard wages to his family in Poland. But when the war broke out, contact was severed, and he quickly understood that something terrible was happening. He expressed this in several heart-wrenching poems of longing and, above all, despair."

The Prime Minister quoted a poem written by his father-in-law: "I want to read you an excerpt from one of his poems, titled 'To Europe, a Song':

'My eyes are immersed in the stream of my sorrow, a tear swears against this pain!

My people drown in blood, and the heavens are silent,

Like a stone in the field, I too will remain silent before the crescent moon.

For from Europe, Torah will emerge,

And from Germany, the word of good tidings;

Slain and strangled, murdered and slaughtered! For the sake of "Yehuda," a bullet’s rope;

Only poison gas in a sealed carriage, and with no time: bury him alive!

God, justice, the sanctity of human life.

Ha-ha-ha to humanity,

Long live genocide.

Blood, blood,'" Netanyahu recited the chilling poem.

"In this genocide, my father-in-law’s entire family from Bilgoraj and also from Tarnogrod in Poland perished," Netanyahu said.

He then began to recite their names:

"The father, my wife’s grandfather, Moshe Hon.

His wife, Etta Hon.

Shmuel’s twin sister, Yehudit Hon, aged 24.

Shmuel passed away at 97, and throughout his life, even a few days before his death, whenever I mentioned Yehudit’s name, he wept. He always wept.

Shmuel’s brothers:

Meir Dov Hon, aged 18.

Shimon Tzvi Hon, aged 16.

Aryeh Leib Hon, aged 13.

And his little sister, Feisela Hon, aged 10.

Additional family members from Bilgoraj:

The uncle, Avraham Tauber, his wife, daughter, and son.

The aunt, Rachel Tauber, her three sons, Avraham, Yaakov, and Shlomo, their wives, and all their children.

Aunt Hendel, her husband, and all their children.

Aunt Feila and her two daughters.

From Tarnogrod:

My wife’s great-grandfather, Ze’ev-Wolf Hon.

Shmuel’s aunt, Matel Konigstein, Ze’ev Hon’s daughter.

Her eldest daughter and son, Hillel ben Yechezkel.

The uncle, Mendel Hon, his wife, and their two children.

May their memory be blessed. May God avenge their blood."