Thousands gathered Monday at the cemetery in Kibbutz Be'eri for the funeral of Meny Godard, whose body was returned from the Gaza Strip last week more than two years after he was killed in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
Godard, 73, was eulogized by family members, friends and President Isaac Herzog. Singer Ivri Lider performed “I Was Lucky to Love,” and Godard’s brothers Yossi and Eli recited Kaddish. Mourners placed the EuroCup basketball trophy won by Hapoel Tel Aviv on his grave.
Godard’s return came 769 days after he was taken into Gaza. Kibbutz Be'eri, where he lived, was one of the communities hit hardest in the Oct. 7 assault.
His daughter Mor said she had imagined the funeral “dozens of times,” describing the pain of waiting more than two years to bury her father and criticizing the government’s decision a day earlier not to establish a state commission of inquiry into the attack. She apologized to her father for what she described as the state’s failure to protect him and said “you didn’t deserve to lie for 769 days in the streets of Gaza.”
Her sister Bar thanked the IDF troops involved in recovery efforts and vowed to continue pushing for an independent inquiry. She said she had hoped her father would “jump out from the side and burst out laughing,” recalling a childhood memory of him hiding near the kibbutz gate during his security shifts.
Godard’s son Goni spoke of missing his father for more than two years and apologized for not being able to save him and his mother, who was also killed on Oct. 7. He said his father’s hugs had given him “hope” and a sense of security.
Herzog, addressing the mourners, apologized on behalf of the state “for not being there to protect you in those moments of darkness” and for the long delay in bringing Godard home. He said the call for a full investigation into Oct. 7 was a “moral and ethical cry” and essential for Israeli society to heal.
Godard was buried beside his wife in the Be'eri cemetery, a place his family said he loved deeply.