Tributes to heroic British-Israeli killed while saving wounded civilians at kibbutz
Benjamin Trakeniski's fiancée Rotem read out her wedding vow at his funeral on Thursday.
Friends and former teachers of British-Israeli Benjamin Trakeniski have paid tribute to the young man they described as “positive, pure, kind-hearted”.
Known as ‘Benji’ to friends, the 32-year-old is understood to have been killed by armed Hamas terrorists after going to help evacuate wounded civilians at Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the hardest hit communities after the attack last week.
Benji, who was living in Tel Aviv, was engaged to Israeli tattoo-artist Rotem – and the couple were due to get married in April next year. Rotem, instead, read out her wedding vow at his funeral on Thursday.
His friend in Israel, who did not want to be named, attended the funeral. They said: “Benji was the most positive, pure and kind-hearted person. He was all about helping others and in this heroic way he also died by saving many lives at the Be’eri fighting.
“Benji and his fiancée Rotem were supposed to get married in April.
“At the funeral, she read the vow she was supposed to read at the wedding, as a eulogy.”
They added: “People were sobbing. Hearing a father say Kaddish for his child is the worst and most heart-breaking thing in the world. Rotem’s speech was so touching. She read it in tears and we were all crying with her.”
It is understood that Israel’s former National Security Minister Avigdor Kahalani, who served in the armed Brigade 7 Unit, the same unit as Benji, also spoke at the funeral – hailing his “values”.
Lecturer Tommy Steiner, who teaches at the Reichman University in Herzliya, also attended the funeral in Israel on Thursday.
He tweeted about his former student, saying: “Just heard a former student, Major Benji Trakeniski was killed by Hamas while defending civilians. Never met in person, he took my seminar during COVID, but we had lengthy phone and zoom sessions.
“Will remember his smile, curiosity and humour. May his memory be a blessing. RIP, Benji.”
Messages have been sent to his mother Liz, a former student at London’s JFS, the largest Jewish school in Europe.
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