Yesterday, the bodies of Yarden Bibas’ family were laid to rest. On Oct 7, he and his wife Shiri decided that he should go out and fight Hamas, leaving Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir at home in the bomb shelter, rather than surrender together. They were taken as POWs separately, he was released around 500 days later on Feb 1 2025, and no one was able to say for sure what became of Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir. Eventually after a long process, their bodies were released, and it was discovered they had been murdered in captivity after only about one week.
Times of Israel, captured 27 Feb 2025.
In a glaring spiritual misunderstanding, Yarden prayed to Shiri as if she is now capable of watching his life and giving him directions while she is departed and on the other side. Let us pray that his spiritual eyes will be enlightened.
📰 🥲 A sad morning in Israel. This morning is the burial of the bodies from the Bibas family. Yesterday the body lf grandpa Oded Lifshitz was laid to rest. The public are lined up along the road for the procession to a closed private ceremony, which will have livestreamed eulogies. While the living family members plead for privacy, the government publishes gory details of the bare-handed, cold-blooded murder of Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir after just one week of captivity as POWs. The reason: the government knows that the world mostly yawned and ignored the atrocities, and made excuses in order to support the enemies of the Jews. Both viewpoints are easy for me to understand. Of course the family doesn’t like gory details and may sue the government in court fo speaking beyond the approved words; on the other hand, the government has a task to fulfill before the eyes of the public and the world.
We keep learning more from what the released POWs (Prisoners Of War) report after their release: Their captors claimed they coordinated with university students to hold pro-Hamas demonstrations in the West.
Convicted criminal terrorist released in a deal, then he fell to his death two weeks later. Circumstances of his fall are yet unknown.
His attack in 2003 came two weeks before I arrived alone in Jerusalem to pray at a conference even after the sending congregation had cancelled their flights to the conference, due to the bus bombings and terror attacks of the Second Intifada. It was at that conference that I received such powerful prophetic words. This is the guy who murdered Dr. David Applebaum and his daughter Nava on the eve of her wedding, along with 5 others, plus 57 people injured in a Jerusalem cafe.
“Hamas’s Nael Obeid was jailed for 2003 Cafe Hillel bombing in Jerusalem; 7 fatalities included Dr. David Applebaum, hospital emergency room head, and his daughter Nava, on the eve of her wedding…” (Times of Israel).
Israel, the USA, Russia, and Argentina celebrate the return of their citizens during Shabbat yesterday:
Israel HaYom, 16 Feb 2025 pg 1.
Argentine-Israeli hostage Iair Horn, yet his brother Eitan is still held POW in Gaza;
US-Israeli POW Sagui Dekel-Chen, who just learned of his daughter’s name “Shachar Mazal,” she was 7 months in the womb when he was captured on Oct 7;
Russian-Israeli POW Sasha Troufanov met with the Russian Ambassador to Israel who gifted him with a new Russian passport (the hidden message: “come back to Russia, it’s safer!”); he just now learned that his father Vitaly had been killed Oct 7.