Barak Davidi, 28: Huge Maccabi Tel Aviv fan was ‘one of a kind’

Barak Davidi, 28, from Holon, was murdered by Hamas terrorists while trying to flee the Supernova music festival on October 7.

After leaving the site of the festival, Barak sought safety in a roadside bomb shelter near Kibbutz Alumim, where he and around 20 others were murdered when Hamas threw grenades inside and opened fire on them.

Nobody in his family knew that he had gone to the rave, and they frantically searched for him all day. They traced his car to Netivot, and a family member found it with three bodies inside — none of them Barak. Eventually, his relatives pieced together his movements and realized that he abandoned his car next to the shelter, and other fleeing partygoers had taken it to try and escape.

Barak was buried in Holon on October 13. He is survived by his parents, Nitza and Herzl, and his older half-siblings Tami, Sharona, Avi and Tomer.

He was a talented soccer player in his youth, his family said, playing as a left-back for a local team, and was also a devoted fan of Maccabi Tel Aviv.

On what would have been his 29th birthday, Barak’s cousin Keren wrote on Facebook how much they kept hoping “that you would walk in the door with your smile and say ‘everything’s fine, I’m here.'”

“I have no doubt that all the angels up above are celebrating you — you were one of a kind and you always will be! The best child ever, who loved everyone and was loved by everyone. We will remember you in our hearts forever,” wrote Keren.

Also on his birthday, his close friend Daniel Mekhtiev wrote on Facebook that instead of turning 29, “you will stay forever 28 years old.”

“You were my best friend and so much more than that, you were an incredible example of humanity, of how people really need to behave — your kind-heartedness, your generosity, your laughter, your emotion, your concern for everyone, including those you only met a minute earlier, that was your uniqueness, and you will stay special forever,” he wrote.

Barak’s aunt Ahuva asked on Facebook, “How could God allow you to leave us so soon — a good and modest boy, handsome, a pure soul… it seems God must need you up there.”

His friend, Sharon Ross, told a local news outlet that Barak “was the happiest guy in our crew, the funniest and with the best heart.” On the truck he drives for work, Ross hung a huge poster of Barak, with the words “Barak Davidi, dance forever, our angel” on it. He said, “We tend to forget people quickly, and it was important to me that he be remembered.”

Writing on a memorial site for fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv, Barak’s sister Sharona wrote that from a young age, he was “a beloved and happy child with endless generosity to everyone, funny, always gathering and uniting everyone — his family and friends.”

She noted that while she supported an opposing team, the pair would still go to games together and continue their good-natured feud: “But at the end he would always say, ‘Eventually I’ll get you to sit in the Maccabi bleachers!'”

Our Barak, she wrote, “You left us too soon and left a huge scar in all of our hearts — your parents, siblings, nieces and nephews, friends and everyone who knew you. Today all we have left is to memorialize you everywhere we can, and we promise we will do that always.”

“Dance forever, our angel, we’ll remember you forever.”

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