Ariel Biton, 22: Avid surfer who was 'an anchor of joy'

Murdered by Hamas terrorists while fleeing the Supernova music festival on October 7

Ariel Mordechai Biton, 22, from Holon, was murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7 while trying to flee the Supernova music festival.

He attended the rave with his girlfriend, Eden Ben Rubi. When the rocket fire began, the pair fled the site of the festival and sought safety in a roadside bomb shelter. There, both Ariel and Eden were slain by terrorists who fired inside and threw grenades into the structure.

He was buried on October 10 in Holon. He is survived by his parents, Hadar and Yoram, his younger sister Kai and his grandmother Aliza.

Ariel and Kai were raised from a young age by their grandmother Aliza, according to a state eulogy. He attended schools in Holon and was an active basketball player, and also loved surfing. He even traveled around the world pursuing the best waves, with surfing trips to both El Salvador and the Maldives, and also instructed a kids’ surfing class.

During his mandatory army service, Ariel served as a squad commander in the Nahal’s Brigade’s 931st Infantry Battalion. According to a Holon municipal eulogy, he took a big trip around Sri Lanka and India after being released, where he met Eden, and when he returned to Israel — just a few months before he was killed — he took some courses in investment and had planned to pursue university studies in psychology.

His close friend, Daniel Rogozinski, wrote on an Instagram memorial page to “my dear brother Ariel.”

The pair met, he said, a year earlier vacationing in the Sinai Desert, “and it was enough to turn us into brothers. The very first time I saw you I knew what a crazy kid you were, and I was pulled in within a moment.”

Together, he said, “we spent entire nights planning our parties. My soul burns with longing for the laughter, the hanging out, the happiness, the crises, the moods, the shared dreams that will never come true… you were an anchor of joy and craziness to me amid all the normality and the boringness. You knew how to live life in the happiest way possible, and despite all the shit you went through, you schooled everyone on being happy.”

Ariel’s grandmother Aliza, who raised him since he was 6 years old, told Ynet that “he was a boy who was always surrounded by friends. He was the glue, he loved everyone and everyone loved him. He was a wonderful kid, everyone always praised him. He had a lot of optimism, he only saw the good, not the bad. He always helped everyone, advised his friends, and me as well. He wanted to study psychology but he never got to it.”

Ariel’s younger sister, Kai wrote on Instagram to “my Ariel, my ray of light, my support system — I have no words and at the same time I want to say all the words in the world.”

“You are my hope in life and you always will be. Siblings like us aren’t found anywhere else, as kids we never fought, you always took care me and never got mad, never yelled, you always supported me and smiled at me. Your smile gives me strength,” Kai added. “You are my blood, and there’s no way to describe in words how much I love you.”

“You taught me to be happy, to live, you made sure I was never lacking anything, at any moment,” she continued. “I’m trying to be like you, to dress like you, to be happy like you, to listen to the songs you listen to, to work at your job, everything is you. You’re my role model in life.”