Shiri Bibas’s sister: ‘Watch over us from above; the monsters will not break us, they lost’

Dana Silberman-Sitton, Shiri Bibas’s sister, says she has prepared herself for this moment for a full year, but nothing could truly prepare her for saying goodbye to her loved ones. She uses the nicknames she had for her sister and nephews: Baz, Lulu and Firfir.

“We waited to be aunts together, just to be called ‘aunt,’ and you, Shiri were like no other aunt, loving and protective,” she says.

Sitton describes being raised in a home filled with love, compassion, and understanding. “Dad and Mom raised us to be strong women, to love others and respect differences,” she says.

When they both became mothers, they would both pick up their children from preschool and go visit their parents, Margit and Yossi Silberman, who also lived in Nir Oz and were killed on October 7, burned in their home by Hamas terrorists.

“They would run to hug and kiss the kids and we’d look at each other and say, ‘Okay, we’re not needed here,'” says Sitton. “Now Baz, you’re here beside them, with them. So I’m not worried.”

Sitton eulogizes her two nephews, Ariel, “Lulu,” a redhead with a mischievous laugh: “I only got to be your aunt for four years, but they were four proud years,” she says. “I’ll miss your walk, like a little man, your laughter, your kind eyes, and your sweet hugs.”

Sitton speaks to Kfir, or “Firfir.”

“Sadly, I only had 9 months to cherish you. It wasn’t difficult to fall in love with you immediately. Smiling and pure, and a redhead too — you didn’t disappoint.”

Sitton asks for forgiveness on behalf of the country’s leadership and military who were not there for the family that day, and who took so long to bring them back to their home.

“Please watch over us from above — five angels who are uniquely mine. Baz, hug Dad and Mom tightly for me and watch over them for me,” she says. “Please send energies here to drive all evil from the world and leave only good.

“I promise you, as I promised Mom and Dad, that the monsters beyond the fence will not succeed in their mission. They will not defeat us, they will not break us,” she says.

“On the contrary, their mission failed because we united, because we grew stronger because we became invincible. They lost.”