Hundreds of people, including family members and friends, gathered Thursday at the Ashdod cemetery for the funeral of 27-year-old Dan David Elkayam, who was murdered in the brutal massacre during the Hanukkah holiday in Sydney, Australia, earlier this week. Representing the government, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi attended the funeral. Dan’s brothers eulogized him in French, and his partner, Crystal Troiano, delivered a eulogy in English.
Ashdod Mayor Yehiel Lasri said in his eulogy: “The city of Ashdod mourns, and together with the entire people of Israel grieves the painful loss of dear Dan, may his blood be avenged, a beloved young man murdered in the prime of his life solely because he was Jewish. Our hearts are with you, dear Elkayam family: the parents, Arie and Imani; the brothers, Jeremy, Johan and Roy; my dear friends Itzik and Zion, Dan’s uncles; and the entire extended Elkayam family, one of Ashdod’s long-established, respected and distinguished families.
The funeral of Dan David Elkayam in Ashdod
“In these difficult moments of farewell, the deep pain and sorrow that surround you are shared by all of us. Even those who did not know Dan personally feel their hearts shaken and cry out to the heavens over the sense of loss of such a beautiful life, full of hope and a bright future that awaited him. In every photo, in every situation and from every angle, Dan appears handsome and radiant, with angelic features, joy and a passion for life bursting forth. Pure lives that were brutally cut down by antisemitic monsters devoid of humanity.”
Lasri continued: “He was a brilliant software engineer with great ambitions and a promising professional future, a talented soccer player with a true sporting spirit who also took part in the Maccabiah Games. In Australia, where he lived in recent years, far from his family in France and Israel, he was deeply connected to the Jewish community and to Chabad emissaries, and played an active and meaningful role in community life. Dan was also endowed with humility, modesty and a spirit of giving to others, and alongside his studies, work and involvement in the Chabad community, he found time to volunteer on behalf of at-risk youth.
“But all the beauty and values that defined Dan’s character were revealed with full force in his final moments — the moment in which he chose the lives of others over his own. On the evening of the first candle of Hanukkah, as the Jewish community in Sydney gathered to celebrate the holiday, the joy was brutally shattered by despicable terrorists who sought to extinguish the light spread by the Jewish community. Driven by a murderous ideology, a father and son went on a killing spree — a father who, instead of educating his son to love humanity and values, carried out a horrific terror attack together with him — and together they cut down the lives of men, women and a child whose only ‘crime’ was being Jewish.
“In those moments of terror, just like the heroic Maccabees, Dan did not retreat, did not seek escape and did not think of himself. With rare nobility of spirit, he leapt forward and shielded 10-year-old Matilda with his own body, protecting her from the terrorists’ bullets. In a supreme act of heroism born of love for humanity, responsibility and pure compassion, he was prepared to sacrifice his life for her. Tragically, she too was murdered in the attack. Dan fell a hero’s death, holy and pure. This horrific terror attack, in which the lives of 15 Jews were cut short solely because they were Jewish, is another reminder of our people’s long struggle throughout the generations against the abyssal hatred toward Jews. On behalf of the residents of Ashdod, I extend my heartfelt condolences to you and to the entire extended Elkayam family.”
The attack, in which 15 people were murdered, including Elkayam , was carried out by 50-year-old Sajid Akram and his 24-year-old son, Naveed. The son is the only one of the two who survived. Earlier this month, New South Wales Police announced that he had been charged with 59 counts, including 15 counts of murder. Investigators met with him, but according to reports he refused to cooperate with questioning.