JERUSALEM (VINnews) — In a tearful ceremany at the Netivot cemetery, Aviel Hadad HyD, the Tunisian-Israeli citizen who was murdered in the shooting attack in a synagogue in the Tunisian city of Djerba on Tuesday, was laid to rest on Friday.
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Hadad, 30, was murdered alongside his cousin Binyamin Hadad, a 42-year-old French citizen, who was buried in his hometown of Marseille.
The funeral was held amid Operation Shield and Arrow. While there were no missile sirens during the service, explosions, seemingly from Iron Dome interceptions, were heard from a distance. “We thought he traveled to Djerba to find a wife, that we would see him happy at his wedding. In the end, he returned in a coffin.” his brother-in-law stated in his eulogy.
“The State of Israel is dealing with terror. Hate and antisemitism is its fuel,” said Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, the government’s representative at the service, who was specially requested by the family to attend. “The synagogue was a target for terrorism this week and also in the past.”
Karhi later wrote that: “We received the bitter news about two Jews who were murdered in a terror attack at the traditional commemoration at Algarbia synagogue in Djerba, Aviel and his cousin Ben Hadad. The pain is great. I had the honor to meet Aviel and his family, who are connected to their roots in every part of their soul while keeping the Jewish tradition of Djerba. May they be comforted by the comfort of Zion.”
Lilach Haddad said her cousin Aviel was “like a father to me.”
“He would take my sister to the hospital when she was sick. He would never let her give up. His mother died three years ago and he was the head of the house. When the head is gone, what is left?”
On Friday, Tunisian authorities revealed the terrorist’s name — Wissam Khazri, a member of the Tunisian National Guard affiliated with the naval center in the island’s port town of Aghir — and said he planned the attack, but they gave no explanation of why. It was yet unknown if Khazri specifically targeted Jews in the attack.
The Djerba synagogue, a popular tourist site which attracted thousands of visitors this year, is the focal point of an ancient community tracing its roots back to the end of the First Temple period. It was previously targeted in a 2002 terrorist attack by Al-Qaeda, in which a truck bombing killed about 20 tourists at the entrance to the synagoue during the annual Jewish pilgrimage.