Shalom Sofer, 63, who died in November 2022, two weeks after being stabbed by an assailant in the Palestinian town of Al-Funduq. Photo via the Israeli military.

An Israeli man who died of wounds sustained during a Palestinian stabbing attack last month was laid to rest on Tuesday among hundreds of mourners in his hometown, with his sons recalling “a man of peace” who valued kindness over material wealth.

Shalom Sofer, 63, was attacked two weeks ago while traveling in the West Bank between Kedumim, where he owned a small grocery shop, to his house in the central Israeli city of Petah Tikva. He stopped along the way in the Palestinian town of Al-Funduq, where he was stabbed twice in his gut area by an assailant after walking out of a store.

Shalom was moderately wounded and taken to Sheba hospital, where his condition worsened before being stabilized. He was discharged after several days, but suffered a sudden, severe deterioration at his home on Monday evening before dying. He left behind a wife, five children, and grandchildren.

“We didn’t see it coming,” said his son, Liav Sofer, in a media interview before the funeral. “My father is a man who really believes in the way of peace.”

He recounted his father’s apparent progress, saying the two went to synagogue this past Shabbat before the deterioration. He described Shalom’s giving spirit, noting that his father would frequently put together food packages for the needy and refused to charge Israeli soldiers who came to his shop. “Money was worth nothing to you, only kindness,” Liav told mourners.

“I have no words,” Shalom’s widow, Rachel, said in an interview with Israeli media. “I lost my best friend. I am with him since age 14.”

Their other son, Lidor, said he was only minutes away from his father when the attack took place. “He called me, told me a terrorist pounced on and stabbed him. He said that he managed to kick him, repel him, seize his knife,” before losing consciousness, explained Lidor.

The suspected assailant was arrested by Israeli forces shortly after the stabbing.

My father was “a man of peace,” Lidor said in his eulogy. “It is time to stop the terror.”

Speaking of the ongoing surge in Palestinian terrorist attacks, which has left more than 100 people dead or injured since March,

Lidor added, “it has become routine. I will not be silent until they bring this brutal murderer to justice. I promised this to the family and to my father.”