Shafir is a moshav

Moshav

Moshav is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists during the second aliyah...

 in southern Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. Located in the Shephelah

Shephelah

The Shephelah is a designation usually applied to the region in south-central Israel of 10-15 km of low hills between the central Mount Hebron and the coastal plains of Philistia within the area of the Judea, at an altitude of 120-450 metres above sea level. The area is fertile, and a temperate...

 near Kiryat Malakhi, it falls under the jurisdiction of Shafir Regional Council

Shafir Regional Council

Shafir Regional Council is a regional council in the South District of Israel near the city of Kiryat Gat.The council is bordered on the north by the Be'er Tuvia Regional Council, on the east by Yoav Regional Council and Kiryat Gat, on the south by Lakhish Regional Council, and on the west by Hof...

. In 2006, it had a population of 499.

Shafir was founded on August 15, 1949 by immigrants from Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 and Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

. It was named after the Biblical city of Shafir that is mentioned in the Book of Micah

Book of Micah

The Book of Micah is one of fifteen prophetic books in the Hebrew bible/Old Testament, and the sixth of the twelve minor prophets. It records the sayings of Mikayahu, meaning "Who is like Yahweh?", an 8th century prophet from the village of Moresheth in Judah...

 1:11, which also means "good and beautiful". It is built on the land of the depopulated Palestinian

Palestinian territories

The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...

 village Al-Sawafir al-Shamaliyya

Al-Sawafir al-Shamaliyya

Al-Sawafir al-Shamaliyya was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Gaza, located northeast of Gaza situated along the southern coastal plain of Palestine above sea level. It had a population of 680 in 1945...

.

In 1954, during the Shafir shooting attack

Shafir shooting attack

The Shafir shooting attack was a guerrilla assault carried out by Palestinian militants on April 11, 1956. Two Palestinian militants whom infiltrated to Israel from Jordan opened fire on a synagogue full of children and teenagers, in the farming community of Shafir, killing three children and a...

, a fedayeen

Fedayeen

Fedayeen is a term used to describe several distinct militant groups and individuals in West Asia at different times in history. It is sometimes used colloquially to refer to suicide squads, especially those who are not bombers.-Overview:...

"opened fire on a synagogue full of children and teenagers, in the farming community of Shafir. Three children and a youth worker were killed on the spot, and five were wounded, including three seriously".