Supt. Avi Zidon, 50: ‘Hero’ police officer and kid’s basketball coach
Killed battling Hamas terrorists in Moshav Pri Gan on October 7
Supt. Avi Zidon, 50, deputy head of the patrol unit at the Ofakim police station, from Yevul, was killed on October 7 battling Hamas terrorists next to the Pri Gan moshav.
With the start of the attack, Avi left his home in Yevul — a small moshav near the Gaza-Egypt border — shortly before 7 a.m., his wife told Zman Yisrael. She said they spoke only once more around 7:40 a.m., “when he was in the middle of battling terrorists and was calm as usual. He just said, ‘There are terrorists here right now, I can’t talk.'”
On his way to the Ofakim station, Avi had encountered the security chief of the group of 12 small towns in that area, including Yevul and Pri Gan, who told him of the extensive terrorist invasion. Avi agreed to join him in battling the Hamas gunmen who had invaded Pri Gan, and they and another police officer began to engage them in a firefight.
When the other officer was wounded, Avi insisted on staying in Pri Gan alone to battle the terrorists while the security chief evacuated the wounded officer. He was shot dead shortly afterward.
“I know that he wouldn’t have done anything differently,” his wife told Zman Yisrael. “Even if he would have known ahead of time what the ultimate outcome would be, he would have behaved exactly the same. He told me while he was alive that he was ready to sacrifice his life for others.”
Later, a number of local security members from the surrounding towns joined the fight in Pri Gan and three were killed in the firefight — Reouven Chicheportiche, Aviad Cohen and Bechor Swid — but all of the other residents survived.
Avi was buried on October 11 in Kibbutz Gvulot. He is survived by his wife Efrat, two children, Roni, 14, and Eyal, 11, and his brother, Adi.
Efrat told Zman Yisrael, “At least he didn’t die in vain. At least there was value and meaning to his death. He had a huge heart and he devoted himself to his police officers. They can say that he was the most available commander, the most straightforward, the most moral. He was a man who set goals and achieved them.”
Amir Peleg, his friend from high school, told Zman, “I have a heroic friend called Avi. I have a friend who walked with eyes wide open toward his death, and in that protected and saved a whole town that was at risk of a massacre. I have a friend who knew what he was sacrificing and chose to sacrifice it. I have a friend who loved life, loved his wife and his kids and still chose to remain alone against dozens of terrorists. We always knew, us on the kibbutz, that Avi was a hero.”
Born in Holon, at age 11 Avi arrived at Kibbutz Gvulot to live in a youth village for at-risk children, according to a local eulogy. He was a big reader, and even as a child was into learning about history, particularly wars and military strategy.
The eulogy said that from a young age, he dreamed about a career in the security field, and served as a combat soldier in the Kfir Brigade’s Duchifat Battalion.
After his release, he got a degree in history from Ben Gurion University, while working in Gvulot to fund his studies, according to a kibbutz eulogy. In 2002, he enlisted in the Israel Police, serving in the southern district and rising through the ranks.
He later got a master’s degree at the University of Haifa, and he and his family moved around for many years in conjunction with his studies and his job. In 2012, they returned to live in Kibbutz Gvulot, and in 2019 they settled in Yevul, where they build their dream house.
He was a devoted family man, and in his spare time, he loved to read and exercise, particularly long-distance running — completing the Tel Aviv Marathon — and basketball, including coaching a local youth team.
According to the kibbutz eulogy, “His children were a dream come true for him and his whole world. He always found time to plan and to take family trips around Israel… His family was always his top priority and he made sure they were never lacking anything.”
