Herzog Honors Murdered Israeli Couple as ‘Best of Humanity’ at Be’eri Funeral

Israeli President Isaac Herzog paid emotional tribute on Monday to Meny (Menachem) Godard, 73, who was murdered alongside his wife Ayelet during the Oct. 7 Hamas-led massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri. Their funeral was held in the very community they called home, now scarred by the brutal attack that claimed their lives.

“Our wild neighbors, as always, do not know what they are doing, who they are murdering the best of humanity,” Herzog said, quoting early Zionist writer Yosef Chaim Brenner, himself murdered by Arab rioters in 1921.

Surrounded by rows of fresh graves victims of the same attack Herzog stood alongside family and friends as they laid Meny to rest, more than a month after his body was recovered from Gaza. Ayelet, 63, was killed alongside her husband in their home by Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists. Meny’s body was abducted into the Gaza Strip and retrieved by Israeli forces on November 13. His death was officially confirmed on December 8.

“Today we said goodbye to Meny and Ayelet, an inseparable couple in their love, in their lives and in their deaths,” Herzog said. “And here they are together again, and we, in pain and in mourning, are by their side.”

The couple leave behind four children and seven grandchildren.

In a statement following the recovery of Meny’s body, the IDF expressed its condolences and reaffirmed its commitment to retrieving the bodies of all hostages still held by terror groups. “Hamas is required to fulfill its part of the agreement and make the necessary efforts to return all the hostages to their families and to a dignified burial,” the military said.

Under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire and hostage release deal enacted on October 13, Hamas agreed to return 28 deceased hostages it had been holding. As of now, the bodies of three captives remain in terrorist hands: two Israeli citizens, Sgt. Ran Gvili and Dror Or, and a Thai worker, Sudthisak Rinthalak.

The Godards’ story, like that of so many others from Kibbutz Be’eri, is a tragic symbol of the human toll exacted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s savagery. Yet their legacy and the dignity shown in their final farewell is a powerful reminder that even amid unimaginable loss, Israel’s spirit endures.

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