
Hundreds mourn rabbi killed by IDF fire in W. Bank By JPOST.COM STAFF AND YAAKOV KATZ 11/11/2011 12:47 Rabbi Dan Mertzbach, 55, laid to rest at Mount of Olives cemetery in Jerusalem; survived by wife and 5 children. Hundreds of people joined the funeral procession for Rabbi Dan Mertzbach, 55, on Friday, after he was killed by IDF fire on Route 60 near Hebron earlier in the day. Mertzbach was traveling to the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron for morning prayers when a member of an IDF force, signaling for him to slow down, opened fire and killed him. An initial IDF investigation found that Mertzbach did not see the soldiers hailing him with flashlights. RELATED: 'IDF troops shot at journalists covering W. Bank protest' The funeral procession set out from the Otniel settlement in the West Bank, where Mertzbach resided, to the Mount of Olives cemetery in Jerusalem, where he was laid to rest. Mertzbach served as rabbi for several communities in the Hebron area. He is survived by his wife and five children. The Defense Ministry announced to the National Insurance Institute on Friday that Mertzbach will be recognized as the victim of a "terror event." The classification will allow the National Insurance Institute to provide welfare benefits to Mertzbach's family. The Defense Ministry generally reserves classifying incidents as terror events for cases in which a terrorist has carried out an attack causing injury or death. The soldier who fired eight shots at Mertzbach's vehicle <b>...</b>
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