Alon Shamli, 34: Beloved gym teacher and soccer coach
Killed in a terror shooting in Egypt on October 8
Alon Shamli, 34 from Bat Yam, was murdered in a terror shooting in Alexandria, Egypt, on October 8.
He is survived by his wife, Mor, parents Avraham and Sima, as well as siblings and grandparents.
Shamli, a youth soccer coach with Hapoel Tel Aviv and a physical education teacher in Bat Yam, was on a organized tour group when an Egyptian police officer opened fire on them, a day after Hamas’s murderous onslaught against southern Israel.
Two Israelis, including Shamli, were killed at the scene, as was their Egyptian tour guide, and another Israeli was seriously wounded and later died of his wounds in Israel.
Alon’s wife, Mor Cohen-Shamli, told the Kan public broadcaster that the hospital in Egypt where her husband was taken lied to her and misled her, conducted an unauthorized autopsy on him and refused to allow her to call Israeli authorities. She said the terror attack that took her husband was barely mentioned amid the horrors of October 7, and Israel’s complicated relationship with Cairo.
“Everything has been silenced, I need there to be justice for my Alon,” she said. She recounted running to find him after the shooting stopped, “and I saw him lying on the ground. Around us everyone was looking, filming us, but nobody helped us.”
Asaf Gerenstein, director of the Hapoel Tel Aviv youth department, described Shamli as “a wonderful guy. Modest, smiling, positive, moral, very professional and thorough. He invested so much in his players and the department.”
Gerenstein added that “his players and his students that he coached and taught were very connected to him, professionally but mostly emotionally,” and it was very hard to inform them that he had been killed.
Mor described her husband as “a guy who captures hearts in a moment. Everyone falls in love with him immediately. I was privileged to have received his love. Every word I say is dwarfed by his captivating personality. His internal beauty shined outward.”
“He was a magical guy,” she added. “He always took care of me, was always there for me before anyone. He was hardworking, he went through life with optimism, you would never hear him complain. Alon was funny, sensitive and wonderful.”
