Kin prepares to bring Yitshak Cohen's remains home to Israel

The family of Yitshak Cohen, whose corpse was found in Tarlac with that of his girlfriend Geneva Lopez, were rushing to bring his body home to Israel as several Jewish traditions had been violated when his killers disposed of his body.

According to Oscar Oida's Monday 24 Oras report, Cohen's brother Yaniv was hoping to bring Yitshak's body home within the week.

"In the Jewish religion, when somebody dies, you need to bring him as soon, in the same night, in the same morning, you need to be buried as fast as possible. Basically into the earth," explained Yaniv.

"This is the normal tradition. My brother, unfortunately, was killed and put in the earth. And now we took him out again, and as fast as possible we have to put him back again. This is the Jewish tradition."

Yitshak's body was currently at the Lotus Funeral Homes in Tarlac City as a heartbroken Yaniv made arrangements to bring the body to the Rizal Funeral Homes in Pasay City.

From there, Yitzhak's body would be prepared for the journey home to Israel.

"We have to do it in two or three days. We have to finish everything," said Rizal Funeral Homes Funeral Director Jett Enriquez. "We've been authorized... by the [Israeli] embassy to help. Pag may Israeli na namamatay, we have to accomodate them."

Yaniv remembered his brother to be a very happy person with a big heart. He was always there for the family.

"It's very, very sad that he left us," said Yaniv.

As to whether he had a message for Yitshak's killers, Yaniv said, "I have no message for them. Until we don't know exactly who they are, we're waiting for answers. We're waiting to know what exactly happened."

Yaniv hoped Philippine law enforcement would continue to work on the case until justice was given to his brother.

"Thank you very much for all the help, for all the law enforcement the governor of Pampanga, of Tarlac, my embassy, and all diplomatic people… to discover my brother and Geneva," said Yaniv. — DVM, GMA Integrated News