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Photo: Reuters
Reproduction: Avi Cohen
Nofar Horowitz
Reproduction: Avi Cohen
Reproduction: Avi Cohen
Rachel Ben Abu
Reproduction: Avi Cohen

Dual tragedy

Nofar Horowitz and Racheli Ben Abu met in kindergarten and spent their free time together. Tuesday, they died together.

Nofar Horowitz met Racheli Ben-Abu in kindergarten. They studied together for years, and although they went their separate ways when they started high school, they took every opportunity to get together.

 

Tuesday, they also died together.

 

Nofar Horowitz

 

Nofar, an excellent student, dreamed of serving in the IDF Intelligence Corps and of becoming a lawyer.

 

Yesterday, she visited her father in Netanya, and went out with Racheli to the Hasharon Mall.

 

Nofar’s mother Inbal said she had a bad feeling since Friday, and she told her daughter to stay away from the mall.

 

“I pleaded with her to stay home,” Inbal said. “I’ve been going crazy, I even made a special corner at home and lit candles on Friday.”

 

Nofar’s older sister, Reut, said she also had a bad feeling in recent days.

 

She said her sister was intelligent and successful, but more than anything, she was always smiling.

 

“Just last month she celebrated her 16th birthday,” Reut said. “Yesterday, as soon as we heard there was an attack, we panicked. Her cell phone rang and rang, but she Nofar didn’t answer.”

 

“They told us she was crossing the road at the same time as the bomber, and bore the full brunt of the blast. If she had entered the mall five minutes earlier, she’d still be alive. There was no way to help her.

 

“ These pages can’t possibly tell the story of 16 years of a person’s life. It’s a whole world. On her birthday, she never wanted presents; she only wanted to make other people happy. She had only just started her life. This is just a horror movie.”

 

Since receiving the tragic news, Inbal has been looking at poetry books, trying to draft a eulogy.

 

“It’s so strange, after having three kids for 16 years, all of a sudden I have two. Nothing could prepare me for this.”

 

Rachel Ben Abu

 

Yesterday evening, when the Ben Abu family got to Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer and found Nofar Horowitz critically wounded, they knew it was bad. They understood instinctively their daughter Rachel was also hurt.

 

The worst news of all arrived a short while later, and her uncle went to identify the body at the forensics institute at Abu Kabir.

 

Dozens of familiy members came to the Ben Abu’s home in Tel Aviv to cry as Rachel’s mother Miri looked at pictures of Rachel and Nofar together on Rachel’s computer.

 

“They were best friends, they absolutely loved each other,” Miri said. “They grew up together, and every time Rachel came home from school, the first call she would make was to Nofar.

 

Yesterday they went together to visit Nofar’s father in Netanya and planned to go to the Hasharon Mall afterwards.

 

“She was such a good girl, why was she taken away? I’ve always tried to be good to other people. Why I am being punished?

 

“They loved each other so much. Did they deserve this?

 

Rachel’s uncle Maxim Ben Abu told Ynet his niece had a “good soul, loved life, and had only recently started to think about serving in the army.

 

“It is very painful that these people did this. Such a tragic ending to Rachel’s life,” he said.

 


פרסום ראשון: 07.13.05, 13:29
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