Hundreds accompanied Benayahu Mellet, a member of Havat Gilad’s emergency response team, to his final resting place Friday afternoon. Mellet was killed in a terror attack earlier that morning. Maj. Yuval Ezra, a battery commander in the Artillery Corps, was also killed in the attack. Mellet is survived by his wife and two daughters.
“Fourteen years together, which ended in a moment. You always jumped first to every place and came back last from every incident. This time, too, there was no question,” his wife Esther said in her eulogy. “It was clear to me that you were there. I was not worried when I saw all the helicopters because you always come back. Only this time you did not come back at all. If it is any consolation, you received military recognition — as a soldier who went out to defend those who needed it. You deserve this so much.”
Esther spoke about what occupied Benayahu’s thoughts moments before he rushed to the scene: “This land, this soil, this nation — they occupied you day and night. Just this morning you were working on establishing two new settlement outposts, and from there you were called to the incident. And this is truly your legacy. Khirbat Kafrur, Mivtar Six, and at the site of the murder there will be Jewish communities, flourishing and thriving. I was told they have already gone up there. You were privileged.”
Mellet was buried next to Rabbi Raziel Shevach, who was murdered in a 2018 terror attack near Havat Gilad. He is the second person buried in the cemetery there. Esther spoke of the chilling connection between them — their age when they were killed.
“You are being buried next to a holy man, Rabbi Raziel Shevach. This is exactly how you would have wanted it. He was just like you, 32 years old.”
The widow ended her eulogy with a message from their daughters: “Tair Eretz says you were the best and funniest father. And thank you for 12 years that you were with me. I love you more than anything and I already miss you. I, and the land of Israel, and Tair Eretz, will find the strength to cope. You can rest now.”
Hundreds accompanied Benayahu Mellet, a member of Havat Gilad’s emergency response team, to his final resting place
(Photo: Idan Bloemhof)
“Benayahu was a holy man. People here spoke about what he did for the Land of Israel, so I want to say there were other sides to Benayahu — everything he did in his life, he did with great seriousness,” his mother Segula said in her eulogy. “This was not the first time he was shot at. When he was in first grade, we were helping establish Adei Ad. Arabs shot at him there as well. All the bullets flew over his head. He came and said, ‘Arabs shot at me.’ From childhood, this child absorbed the battles of God.”
His father, Boaz Mellet, said Benayahu was “a beloved son, loving, a lover of the land, a lover of the City of the Patriarchs.” He said Benayahu knew the entire West Bank region. “Only good came from having you with us all these years. Your whole life was devoted and dedicated, with sacrifice, for the sake of the people of Israel. A loving person, a man of peace,” he added.
In his remarks at the funeral, Mellet’s father called on them to dismantle the Palestinian Authority. “All those who told us ‘a fully right-wing government’ — your term is still short. Your opportunity is now to seize the final moment and dismantle the terrorist organization that everyone knows is a terrorist organization — the Palestinian Authority. It is an organization whose entire purpose is the destruction of the State of Israel. We do not need to wait for the next October 7-style war,” he said.
He added: “We are not interested in Areas A, B and C. It does not belong to us, it is not our language, it is not our world. We want settlement throughout all of the Land of Israel. And the Land of Israel does not end only with the State of Israel, but also includes the Gaza Strip and parts liberated from Lebanon — these are parts of the precious and beloved Land of Israel.”