Terror attack survivor: Send forceful message to murderers

Surviving wife of IDF Colonel Sariya Ofer, banned from giving details on night of attack, stresses 'Country should act effectively, powerfully to send a message to these murderes'

Ahiya Raved|Published: 10.12.13 , 18:13

"The State should act forcefully to send a message to these people," said Monique Ofer, wife of retired IDF Colonel Seraya Ofer, 61, who was murdered in a terror attack outside his home in the northern Jordan Valley early Friday. "He was an amazing man, and two bastards took his life," she said.

In a conversation with journalists on Saturday, Monique avoided giving details about the night of the attack as per the request of security forces, so as not to damage the investigation. "The Jordan Valley is one of the safest places according to statistics, the fewest terror acts, definitely in comparison to places like Jerusalem and Tel Aviv."

Related stories:

"If the State doesn't rise and act more aggressively to prevent occurrences like this in the future, it'd be a shame." Monique had knee reconstruction surgery Friday morning and is now recuperating, surrounded by her three children and other members of her family.

Monique Ofer (Photo: Gil Eliyahu, Jeanie)

"I'm not even thinking about it now, not how many were arrested and not who. I think about completely different things, the sorrow inside me. I can't even take it in. It was Seraya, you know? He was an amazing husband, father and grandfather. He strived for perfection in everything he had; he was an amazing man, and two bastards took his life."

The Ofers have known each other for years; their marriage is a second marriage to both. The couple lived in a cabin in Brosh in the Jordan Valley for almost seven years, and they own a jewelry and Judaic items store in Jerusalem.

At approximately 1 am Friday, Ofer said she and her husband heard suspicious noises outside their home in the northern Jordan Valley community of Brosh Habika. The man was attacked by the Palestinians as he stepped outside to investigate, she said. The wife, who witnessed the scene from the window, apparently phoned an acquaintance, who contacted the police while she was crawling through the bushes. During her escape, the woman tripped and sustained cuts from a barbed wire fence.

The Ofers on their wedding day (Photo: Courtesy of the family)

Monique made it to a nearby road and stopped a passing car for help. She was evacuated to the Emek Medical Center in light to moderate condition at around 3 am.

She reportedly told paramedics, "Don't worry about me; go to him (her husband), save him."

From her hospital bed, Monique said her husband "was a military man for a long time; an amazing man, amazing father, amazing grandfather and amazing husband. There is no one who did not love him or connect with him. How they managed to do this to him, I do not know. They surprised him. I don't know."

Seraya Ofer was murdered 40 years to the day after his brother, Major Yizhak Ofer, died in 1973 when his Sky Hawk was shot down in the Golan Heights sky during the Yom Kippur war. A memorial was built to commemorate him that included parts of the plane shot down by the Syrians.

Ofer's father, David, was the Chief of Tel Aviv Police District and was honorably discharged as a commander.

Seraya Ofer himself had a lengthy and glorious military career. In 1982 he was the lieutenant in charge of evacuating Yamit. In the First Lebanon War he faught as the commander of the Shaked brigade in the eastern unit in South Leabanon, and was then made commander of Bahad 1 (officers' training base).