Released hostage Eli Sharabi eulogizes his wife and two daughters, who were brutally murdered on 10/7 describing their love, humility, and kindness and promising, ‘We will never forget you.’
In a moving and heartbreaking ceremony that took place on Wednesday morning at the cemetery in the village of Kfar HaRif in southern Israel, Eli Sharabi, a survivor of Hamas captivity in Gaza and the one chosen to light a torch at the Independence Day ceremony, eulogized his wife Lianne, and his brother Yossi, who perished in captivity in Gaza.
Sharabi’s voice trembled as he expressed the immense pain and despair in the face of the terrible loss. “How can one deal with this? How can one find words?” he wondered painfully.
Sharabi spoke to his wife, Lianne, who was taken from him suddenly. He described her as someone who came “from another end of the world, from distant England,” and chose Kibbutz Be’eri as her home, with endless love and devotion. “Everyone who met you immediately felt, beneath the embarrassment and cynical British humor, your modesty, caring and kindness,” he said of her unique character.
“Lianne, you were murdered with inexplicable cruelty, in a crime that has no justification. But even in these difficult moments, I cling to what you left behind, endless love, joy of life, memories of light. The world misses you Lianne and I miss you with every breath I take. Rest in peace, my love, always. May your memory be blessed,” he added.
About his daughter Noiya, Sharabi said: “Our Noiya, grew up on Kibbutz Be’eri, a child of nature, of community. You were so sensitive, so gentle, but also so strong. You had a huge heart, a heart that saw people and felt everything. A heart that always chose the good. My Noiya, you had so many dreams, a future, and everything was cut short with cruelty that has no words. But I promise you will not be forgotten. Your heart, your tenderness, your light, we will continue to tell, to remember, to live. Rest in peace, my beloved girl, you are always with me. May your memory be blessed.”
With intense emotions, Sharabi said goodbye to his daughter Yahel, 13, and expressed his longing to hear her sweet laughter again. “You grew up in Be’eri, a child of freedom, of open skies. You were beautiful on the outside, but mostly on the inside. There was a light in you that couldn’t stay just with you, it spread to everyone who was around you. You loved thrills, skydiving, diving, everything that raised your pulse and your smile. You always wanted to taste life to the end, as if you knew you had to get everything done quickly. All of that was taken from us cruelly, with unimaginable violence … But my dear, I promise you that we won’t forget you; not your light, not your laughter, not the way you loved life. Continue to shine in our hearts always. Rest in peace, my little love. May your memory be blessed.”
At the end of his painful words, Eli paid tribute to his brother Yossi, who died in Hamas captivity. “It’s hard to stand here today, in a place I never imagined we would stand. It’s hard to talk about you in the past tense. You who were always there, the first to reach out, the first to laugh, the first to love. Captivity didn’t break you. Even when you were far from us, you continued to be who you are, our Yossi, full of strength, faith and hope. And we are here crushed and in pain, but so proud of you, my dear brother. Our hearts will never be whole without you. But your love, your kindness and your smile, they will continue to live in us, may your memory be blessed.”
