Liam Shrem, 25: Third-year business student ‘was a kid with dreams’
Murdered by Hamas terrorists while trying to flee the Supernova music festival on October 7
Liam Shrem, 25, from Tel Aviv, was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival on October 7.
He is survived by his parents, Simona and Dudi, and his aunts and uncles.
His mother, Simona Shrem, is a well-known event producer in Israel. She said that Liam and his friends — Yonatan Zeidman and Ilai Baram — arrived at the rave only shortly before the rocket fire began. All three were slain as they tried to later flee the partygrounds.
Simona told Maariv that “I spoke to them until 30 seconds before they were killed. They were happy, they didn’t know what was going on, this is my comfort, this is my strength,” she said, noting that a cell of terrorists shot all three dead from the side of the road.
“Liam was a happy boy, he didn’t go to sleep sad once in his 26 years. He went to sleep happy and woke up happy. He was a kid with dreams,” she told the newspaper. She noted that he wanted to serve in a combat unit in the IDF, and as an only child his mother would have to approve such a move, and she refused for six months before caving.
After his mandatory service in the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, Liam traveled around the world and returned to study business administration at Reichman University, where he was slated to begin his third year shortly after he was killed. He had landed an internship at Pricewaterhouse Coopers, and also led his own initiative, called Splash Project, to get local artists to paint sports fields and community centers around the country. His mother has vowed to continue the initiative in his memory.
Simona told La’isha magazine that she is not angry or demanding answers about the death of her son, but is trying to continue to live alongside the grief: “Every morning, I wake up, I go into his room, I smell his sheets, I scream, I cry, and then I return to reality,” she said. “The sorrow in me is deep and I can’t explain it.”
In a memorial video for Channel 13, his close friend Ben Savir paid tribute to his “dear friend, an incredible figure.”
Ben said he knew Liam growing up, but they became close while both attended Reichman: “From the first day of the degree we grabbed each other and didn’t let go until a month ago,” he said. “Even though you were only six months older than me, you were like a big brother to me, and our connection was based mostly on you directing and guiding me, but mostly laughing at me.”
He and Liam, he said, had a sense of “healthy competition. We were never jealous of each other but we pushed each other forward to be better. At least that’s how I felt… Your aspirations, your goals, your achievements, were unique and for me served as a sort of mirror for how a successful person should think and behave,” he said. “You were one of the few people my age I admired. I learned so much from you, and I feel that even now I continue to learn from you even though you’re no longer here.”
