Bar Lior, 27: Cook who survived Sinai terror attack on Oct. 7, 2004

Bar Lior “Barli” Nakmuli, 27, was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival on October 7.

He was considered missing for three days until his family was informed that his body had been found.

Lior was buried in Rehovot on October 12. He is survived by his parents, Nurit and Yossi.

Born in Mazkeret Batya, he moved with his mother when he was 8 to nearby Shoham, and he attended schools there and in Givatayim, according to a state eulogy.

On October 7, 2004, when he was 8 years old, he was vacationing with his father at the Taba Hilton in the Sinai when it was attacked by terrorists, who killed 34 people including 13 Israelis. Lior and his father survived. Nineteen years later, on the exact same date, Lior was slain.

Tall in stature, he was an active basketball player in his youth, including competing in tournaments abroad and later even coaching the team. During his mandatory army service, Lior served as a driver in the 16th Infantry Brigade.

After his release, he worked at a number of restaurant jobs to save up for his “big trip,” which he spent traveling around South America — where he picked up a love for trance music and festivals.

Upon his return to Israel, Lior decided to explore a professional culinary career, working in a number of restaurant jobs. He still always loved to host and cook for friends and loved ones, and he planned to pursue culinary studies in Paris, his family said.

At the time of his death, Lior worked as a cook at the ‘a’ restaurant in Tel Aviv. The restaurant’s head chef, Yuval Ben Neriah, told The Marker that four of his employees were at the Supernova festival but only Lior was killed.

“He was only 27 years old, he worked for me for two years,” he said. “In his most recent job he was a grillman at ‘a.’ He was an incredible guy with a huge smile.” Ben Neriah said that in Lior’s honor, he turned his restaurants into prep kitchens — including undergoing kosher certification — to churn out thousands of free meals for soldiers and evacuees. “Inside every meal we include a postcard dedicated to the memory of Bar Lior.”

His friends also established a beer and wine bar, named Barli, in the city of Yavne in his honor, as well as started selling a T-shirt online emblazoned with his favorite flower, the sunflower, and a phrase he had recently tattooed on himself: “Don’t forget to breathe.”

His close friend, Doron Magali, wrote on Instagram that “Barli was my best friend. From the first moment. Such a fast and strong connection that I didn’t believe was possible.”

Doron said they met traveling in South America, “and he adopted me into his group without asking anyone. ‘Don’t worry, you’re with me.’ And I really was with him. Inseparable since then until that dark Saturday.”

Losing Lior, she wrote, “is the worst thing I could imagine, but I never imagined it happening…. Barli was the first person I would message when something happened to me. The first person I would call, the first who would help. And he’s suddenly not here.”

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