Ofri Bibas Levy: They could have saved you but preferred revenge

Ofri Bibas Levy, Yarden Bibas’s sister, says at the funeral that she has been writing these words for over a year.

“The uncertainty, anxiety, and concern for you gave my thoughts no rest, but each time my mind began to formulate them, I forcefully pushed the words away — with the power of my love for you and Yarden, with the strength of hope that you would return,” says Bibas Levy.

“For sixteen months, I’ve been speaking about you everywhere,” she says. “It always hurt and intensified the longing, but talking about you also kept you present, alive. How can it be that you are no longer here?”

Bibas Levy laments that she’ll never be able to schedule another Shabbat picnic with Shiri, that they won’t be able to watch their children run to one another for hugs, to make fun of Yarden and worry about him together, or to receive hand-me-downs from Shiri for her baby Afik, born in the last 15 months.

Bibas Levy says nothing makes sense yet, nothing feels real.

“Shiri, you were the perfect partner for Yarden,” says Bibas Levy. “I couldn’t have asked for anyone better for him. Loving, sensitive, caring, nurturing, calming. The strength you instilled in him all these years, we now draw through him. Don’t worry about him. He is strong and amazing and still makes us laugh. And we will take care of him. I promise.”

She speaks of her nephews, Ariel and Kfir, and how she will miss them and seeing Ariel grow up with her daughter.

“How much she misses you,” says Bibas Levy. “How much we imagined you growing up together, far into a post-army trip to South America.”

She speaks about not having enough time with Kfir, just 10 months old when he was killed.

“We didn’t get to do anything together,” says Bibas Levy. “I didn’t even get to buy you a gift for your first birthday.”

Bibas Levy says her nephews are in her head and heart, every time she looks at her children.

“Every time I see a Batman costume or hear a baby laugh,” says Bibas Levy. “And that’s how I want to remember the three of you: happy, laughing, a family.”

“Many people ask for your forgiveness, and Yarden’s, and ours,” says Bibas Levy. “But the blame is not on them. This disaster should not have happened. You should not have been taken, and you should have returned alive.

“Forgiveness means accepting responsibility and committing to act differently, to learn from mistakes,” adds Bibas Levy. “There is no meaning to forgiveness before the failures are investigated, and all officials take responsibility. Our disaster as a nation and as a family should not have happened, and must never happen again.”

“They could have saved you but preferred revenge. We lost. Our image of ‘victory’ will never happen. Our struggle against the enemies will be eternal, but we must always sanctify life, love of fellow humans, respect for the dead, and never leave anyone behind. Otherwise, we lose who we are,” she says.

“Luli and Firfir, the world came to know you in the most tragic way, but I promise we will do everything so that your memory will be one of innocence, love and goodness. Exactly as mom Shiri and dad Yarden raised you.”