‘Wake me from this nightmare,’ says daughter at funeral for Sarona victim

Hundreds of people turned out Friday afternoon at Yarkon cemetery in Petah Tikva for the funeral of Ilana Naveh, one of the four Israelis killed in Wednesday’s terror attack in Tel Aviv.

“I wanted to believe that when they took me to the hospital it would be okay,” said Shiran Naveh, one of 39-year-old Naveh’s four daughters, the Ynet news website reported. “They told me in the morning [that you had died], but it didn’t surprise me, I already knew that night. I wanted to them to wake me from this nightmare, tell me that it didn’t really happen, but it’s not a dream, it’s real.”

She continued: “Give me the strength to fill your massive shoes. I promise to do it in the best way possible. Watch over us, mom, we love you very much.”

MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni, who performed Naveh’s marriage ceremony, also delivered a eulogy.

Flowers placed on the grave of Michael Feige, following his funeral at the cemetery in Rehovot, June 10, 2016. Feige was one of four Israelis killed in a terror shooting attack at the Sarona market in central Tel Aviv, June 8, 2016 (Photo by FLASH90)

“Seventeen years ago I stood with you under your chuppah [Jewish wedding canopy], I blessed your marriage, and who would have thought I would have to mourn you,” he said.

Naveh’s funeral came hours after the High Court overnight rejected a police request to perform an autopsy on her body, which her family had objected to on religious grounds.

Police had argued that it was not immediately clear if Naveh had been killed by gunfire in the Sarona Market terror attack, with media reports suggesting she may have died of a heart attack at the scene.

Murdered: Mother-of-four Ilana Naveh, 39, shot in the chest by terrorists at the restaurant in Tel Aviv pic.twitter.com/aLCac6SxH1

Advertisement

— Hadji911 (@_hadji_911) June 9, 2016

The family’s attorney told Israeli TV that they wanted to hasten the burial to allow time for the traditional shiva mourning period. Under Jewish law, the seven days of mourning are cut short in the event of a major Jewish holiday. With the Shavuot holiday on Sunday, the family will have just one day to observe the traditional grieving period, and were therefore pushing for the funeral to be held as soon as possible, he said.

“Here is a moment of comfort in this terrible tragedy,” a relative of Naveh’s told Channel 2, hailing the court decision.

The funerals for two other Sarona Market terror victims were also held Friday.

Mila Mishayev, 32, from Rishon Lezion, was buried Friday afternoon in Ashkelon. Mishayev was set to be married in the near future. She was waiting in the restaurant for her boyfriend when the attack took place. She was hit by bullets in her lower body and later died of her injuries. Mishayev managed to call her boyfriend immediately after the attack, but later died due to blood loss.

Ben Gurion University professor Michael Feige, 58, from Ramat Gan, was buried on Friday at 1 p.m. in Rehovot.

Michael Feige, professor of Israel studies at Ben Gurion University, one of four victims killed in a terror attack in Tel Aviv’s Sarona Market on June 6, 2016. (Dani Machlis)

The fourth Israeli killed in the Tel Aviv attack, Ido Ben Ari, was buried on Thursday.

The two gunmen, cousins who came from the Palestinian town of Yatta in the southern West Bank, were caught shortly after the terror attack.

Since last October, 33 Israelis and four others have been killed and hundreds more injured in the spate of attacks, though the violence had dramatically waned of late.

Some 200 Palestinians have also been killed, some two-thirds of them while carrying out attacks and the rest in clashes with troops, Israeli officials say.