‘The best of humanity’: Hundreds attend funeral for slain hostage Meny Godard

Hundreds of people gathered on Monday at the cemetery at Kibbutz Be’eri as Meny Godard, who was killed in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack, and whose body was held hostage for more than two years, was finally laid to rest.

Godard, 73, was murdered by Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists in Be’eri on October 7 along with his wife, Ayelet, 63.

Godard’s family said in a statement ahead of the funeral that he “loved this land, its songs and its people.”

“We stand here today and say goodbye to you. But in fact, the farewell words are dedicated to the memory — to you and Ayelet, the love of your life,” President Isaac Herzog said in his eulogy at the funeral on Monday.

“I stand here today as the president of Israel, and I know that to ask for your forgiveness is not enough. As president of the State of Israel, I am sorry that we weren’t here to protect you. I’m sorry that it took over two years to return dear Meni to his homeland,” Herzog said, and asserted the need to investigate the October 7, 2023, massacre.

“When we look around at the gravestones of all of the [kibbutz] members buried in the Be’eri cemetery, we can see that on October 7, Hamas terrorists murdered the best of humanity!” Herzog posted on X afterward.

“We are parting ways today with Meny and Ayelet, an inseparable couple in their love, in their lives, and in their deaths,” he added. “Now they are together again, and we, who are in pain and mourning, are by their side.”

The Godards are survived by four children — Mor, Gal, Bar, and Goni — seven grandchildren, and several siblings.

The kibbutz, some 100 of whose residents were killed in the October 7 massacre, held a funeral for the couple shortly after their murder was announced in February 2024, before Godard’s body had been returned.

Godard, the kibbutz eulogized at the time, had “a love of sports, the ocean and people.” He was a professional soccer player in the 1970s before enlisting in the army and fighting in the Yom Kippur War. In the kibbutz, he worked in a variety of positions, including in the printing house and the local store, as chief economist, and as a lifeguard.

At the start of the current truce, Hamas still held 48 hostages in Gaza — 20 alive and 28 deceased. Under the terms of the ceasefire, it was obligated to return all of them within 72 hours.

The terrorists have since released all surviving captives, but Israel has accused Hamas of dragging its feet over the return of the remaining deceased hostages. The terror group is still holding the remains of three captives.

As part of the deal, Israel has returned the remains of 15 Palestinians for each deceased Israeli hostage it receives.