Dafna’s murder felt deeply in Australia
NEWS of the brutal slaying of Israeli mother and nurse Dafna Meir by a Palestinian terrorist has stunned the Australian Jewish community, as her brother, Daniel Moatti, recently spent a year working in Melbourne with the Mizrachi community, Bnei Akiva and Leibler Yavneh College.
NEWS of the brutal slaying of Israeli mother and nurse Dafna Meir by a Palestinian terrorist has stunned the Australian Jewish community, as her brother, Daniel Moatti, recently spent a year working in Melbourne with the Mizrachi community, Bnei Akiva and Leibler Yavneh College.
Meir, 38, a mother of six – who lived in Otniel, in the West Bank south of Hebron – wrestled with her attacker who broke into her home on Sunday, fatally stabbed her in front of her eldest daughter, then fled, leaving her for dead. Hundreds of mourners attended her funeral in Jerusalem the following day.
This week her alleged killer, 16-year-old Morad Bader Abdullah Adais, was arrested.
Moatti was a member of Mizrachi’s post-Hesder Bachur program, which brings young Israelis to Australia to work in the community after their army service and yeshivah studies.
Moatti, from Kiryat Shmoneh, was part of the 2012-13 Hesder Bachur team at Mizrachi and was farewelled in Melbourne in August 2013.
Kollel Torah Mitzion Melbourne, part of the Mizrachi movement, posted on Facebook that it received the news of Meir’s murder “with utmost sadness”.
In her Facebook post, colleague and friend Talia Sharp described Moatti’s role as working closely with the Melbourne host community to meet the needs of Mizrachi youth in Melbourne.
“This news hits very close to home for the Melbourne Jewish community,” stated Sharp. “Moatti contributed so much to the Melbourne Jewish community and inspired kids of all ages.
“Many of us had the privilege to work with Moatti and we all learnt so much from him through Bnei Akiva and Leibler Yavneh College. We wish Moatti and his entire family a long life,” she posted.
From Israel, Moatti posted in Hebrew on Monday: “I wish to … thank all my friends who came to the funeral today, and to those who keep calling and sending texts. This is very much appreciated and gives us strength.”
Zionist Federation of Australia president and Mizrachi stalwart Danny Lamm told The AJN that Meir’s murder was “a terrible tragedy perpetrated by a terrorist whose sole aim is murder and destruction of an individual whose purpose in life it was to improve the quality of the life of others. And that’s the tragedy that Israel faces – an enemy that seeks to destroy rather than build.”
PETER KOHN
Full coverage in this week’s AJN.
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