Hadas Malka, 23, of Moshav Givat Ezer in central Israel, died of wounds sustained in a terrorist attack on Friday evening (16 June 2017) outside the Old City of Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate.
Malka started her mandatory military service in the navy but later transferred to the Border Police, extending her mandatory service by 15 months in the process, after deciding she wanted to protect Jerusalem from terrorists.
Hadas was critically injured in the stabbing attack on Friday evening. She was transferred to Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus in Jerusalem where she underwent emergency surgery but later succumbed to her injuries.
Thousands attended her funeral, which took place in a cemetery in Ashdod shortly after midnight on Saturday 17 June. Among those who came to pay their respects, along with family and friends, were senior police officers, Cabinet members and MKs.
Malka, who was promoted posthumously to the rank of Staff-Sergeant Major, is survived by her parents, three sisters and two brothers.
PM Netanyahu's remarks at weekly Cabinet meeting
(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the following remarks at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting:
"On behalf of the Government and the nation, I would like to send condolences from the depths of my heart to the family of Border Police fighter, the late Hadas Malka. Their grief is our grief; their sorrow is that of the entire nation. Hadas was a young person full of life. She was imbued with a sense of mission of defending the State of Israel. Her commanders and those under her command loved her and trusted her. Like their comrade-in-arms, the late Hadar Cohen, she fell in the line of duty in a determined struggle against bloodthirsty terrorists. Hadas and Hadar, who were pleasant in their lives, were not separated in death. They will remain linked forever in their heroism and their sacrifice on behalf of the nation and the state.
Since Friday, the security forces have been operating in the district of the terrorists' village and are preparing to demolish their homes. We have revoked Palestinians' visits in Israel that we had approved for Ramadan, and I have instructed the police to reinforce security arrangements and checking procedures in the plaza around Damascus Gate.
Instead of condemning the attack, Fatah – which is headed by Abu Mazen – issued a statement in which it condemns the Border Police fighters who killed the terrorists, and praises the murderers as heroes. It seems that mendacity and brazen gall know no bounds. Of course, the Palestinian Authority is refusing to condemn the murder and the same Authority will now pay financial compensation to the murderers' families.
I call on the countries of the world to condemn both the murder and those who praise it, and demand the immediate cessation of Palestinian Authority payments to the families of terrorists, something that only encourages terror."