Thousands of mourners gathered together with the husband and three surviving children of Lucy Dee as she was laid to rest on Tuesday, less than 48 hours after they buried her two daughters Maia and Rina. The three were shot and killed in an ambush by Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank last week.
Dee, 48, was critically injured in the Friday shooting in the northern Jordan Valley and died of her wounds on Monday.
Friends, family, and residents of the Etzion bloc gathered at the Kfar Etzion cemetery, where Maia Dee, 20, and Rina Dee, 15, were laid to rest on Sunday, to pay their respects to the girls’ mother. The family, who immigrated from the UK nine years ago, hold dual citizenship.
Keren Dee, 17, Lucy’s oldest surviving daughter, told mourners that “to lose a mother is like losing life.”
“Yesterday, I prayed that you would wake up, that we won’t need to experience pain again. My heart hurts so much, I can’t lose you as well. Now I need to accept two roles in the home that nobody prepared me for,” she said.
“You always told me that you were waiting for grandchildren, to be a grandmother. Now they’ll live and they won’t have the honor of meeting you. From five girls, we are now two,” Keren said. “They shot you twice. You fought for your life, you were a strong woman, from your childhood, which wasn’t easy, to your last moments.
Family and friends attend the funeral of Lucy Dee, 48, who died from her injuries in a West Bank terror shooting on April 7 in which her daughters Maia and Rina were also killed, at the Gush Etzion Regional Cemetery in Kfar Etzion on April 11, 2023. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
“I can’t digest that it’s over. It’s impossible to put in words. I love you, Mom.”
In her eulogy, Tali Dee, the youngest daughter, said she struggled to find the words to memorialize her mother.
“Think of your mothers, if you could summarize them in a few paragraphs,” she said. “How do you go from everything to nothing? How will I manage to get out of my bed?”
“Among my sisters, they left me Keren. But there is only one mother. Mom, you always protected me from bad things. I wish your grandchildren will be like you,” she added.
Rabbi Leo Dee led his eulogy with the song “Ani Maamin” (I believe), which prays for the coming of the Messiah. Dee said that he had lost his “best friend” with the death of his wife, with whom he shared so many meaningful life experiences.
“We literally traveled the world together. We made aliya together. We built a new life for ourselves in the Promised Land,” he said. “You would frequently say that you couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. Nor could I — even now, especially now.”
“You made sure to visit every woman who gave birth in Efrat and to help her,” he told mourners. “Yesterday at the hospital, I saw a young couple with a boy. I wanted to tell them to take advantage of every moment possible together,” he said.
“You cared for every one of us. You prepared food for all of us, you wrote us all notes in the morning,” he added.
Mourners attend the funeral of Lucy Dee at a cemetery in the settlement of Kfar Etzion, Tuesday, April 11, 2023. She died of wounds suffered in an April 7 shooting by Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank that also killed her daughters, Maia and Rina Dee. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Benjamin, Lucy’s brother, said she was an extraordinary woman who “always realized her goals.”
“She saw the world around her, in which she could make a difference, and fostered a feeling of togetherness in her community,” Benjamin said. “When Lucy and Leo moved to Israel, Lucy again decided to give back to her community in the best way — by voluntarily teaching Israelis English.”
The Dee family (Courtesy)
“She was a devoted mother to her daughters. Remember Lucy, Maia and Rina, remember all the good in this world, and what we can all do to turn the world into a better place,” he said.
Dee’s organs were donated and transplanted hours before the funeral, saving the lives of five people.
Mourners carry the body of Lucy Dee at a cemetery in the settlement of Kfar Etzion, Tuesday, April 11, 2023. She died of wounds suffered in an April 7 shooting by Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank that also killed her daughters, Maia and Rina Dee. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
At Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, Dee’s heart went to a 51-year-old woman, her liver to a 25-year-old man, and her kidneys to two men — one in his late 30s and one in his late 50s. Her lungs were transplanted into a 58-year-old woman at Sheba. Her corneas were also harvested and will go to recipients at a later date.
In the Friday attack, near the settlement of Hamra, Palestinian gunmen opened fire at the victims’ car, causing it to crash on the highway’s shoulder. The terrorists then opened fire at the car again, killing the two sisters and critically wounding their mother.
Leo Dee was traveling in a separate car just ahead with other members of the family on a trip to Tiberias. He turned back in the wake of the attack and was present as medics arrived to treat his family.
Children of Lucy Dee mourn during her funeral at a cemetery in the settlement of Kfar Etzion, Tuesday, April 11, 2023. She died of wounds suffered in an April 7 shooting by Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank that also killed her daughters, Maia and Rina Dee. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
The Israel Defense Forces launched a manhunt for the gunmen and other suspects who fled the scene, but they remained at large as of Tuesday. They were thought to be hiding in the northern West Bank.
Surveillance camera footage of the attack showed the terrorists driving up to the victims’ car, with one man opening fire from the passenger seat.
The car with the gunmen then made a U-turn on the highway and fled the scene toward Nablus.
Several hours after the deadly shooting, an Arab Israeli man drove his car into a group of tourists near a promenade in Tel Aviv, killing Italian national Alessandro Parini and wounding seven others.
Tensions have soared across the region in recent days, with a rocket attack from Syria on Saturday night, a barrage of rockets from Lebanon on Thursday, tit-for-tat rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and Israeli strikes over the past week, clashes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank, and a suspected Iranian drone launched from Syria last week.
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‘To lose a mother is to lose life’: Thousands at funeral for terror victim Lucy Dee - The Times of Israel
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