The young Israeli whose Canadian family is mourning a brutal death in a Hamas attack was a pacifist who loved helping others, regardless of their origin or religion.
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Ottawa confirmed on Tuesday the death of Tiferet Lapidot, one of about 1,400 victims of the attack launched by Hamas activists from the Gaza Strip on October 7.
She would have celebrated her twenty-third birthday three days after her assassination.
“She was always happy and shared her love with the children,” Mr Lapidot said in an interview with The Sun. Montreal Journal. “I helped Muslims, Christians and Jews, and religion didn’t matter.”
“Children are children, people are people. It was his way of life,” he adds, his throat tightening with emotion.
Tiferet’s relatives, accompanied by hundreds of people, celebrated his funeral in Israel on Tuesday, including his uncle Harel Lapidot, who grew up in Saskatchewan.
Tiferet Lapidot has spent the last few years, after his studies, volunteering in Israel and, more recently, in South Africa with children with special needs.
She had been missing since attending the Supernova music festival in the Negev Desert, a few kilometers from the Gaza Strip.
His body was finally identified several days later.
“You can imagine what kind of death we’re talking about,” says Harel Lapidot.
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Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly met with Harel Lapidot and the victim’s father at the site in Israel.
“They spoke to me about what a wonderful, beautiful young woman she was. My condolences go out to his family and loved ones,” she added.
Tiveret’s family – who live in Montreal and Saskatchewan – put out a heartfelt cry to Ottawa last week, begging the government to help find her.
The news of his death brings to six the number of victims of Canadian origin who died during a Hamas attack on civilians in Israel, including Montreal Alexandre Luke.
Two other Canadians are still missing. These may be among the hostages held by Hamas.
