The Murder of the Bibas Family: a crime that shames humanity

‘Agony. Pain. There are no words.

Our hearts — the hearts of an entire nation — lie in tatters.

On behalf of the State of Israel, I bow my head and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness for not protecting you on that terrible day. Forgiveness for not bringing you home safely.

May their memory be a blessing.’

— Isaac Herzog, President of the State of Israel

As Isaac Herzog says, there are no words. Language fails to explain this horror and crushing sorrow.

The return of the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, has plunged Israel into profound grief. It has been described as a tragedy, but it is not a tragedy — it is a crime. Even crime doesn’t feel like enough. That would put this foul murder in the same category as shoplifting or fraud. Atrocity, then? Also, not enough. The murder of Shiri Bibas, Ariel Bibas and Kfir Bibas was an abomination. They were seized, illegally and brutally, held in captivity and killed.

Hamas has laughably claimed it does not harm children. Aside from the harm it has inflicted upon a generation of Palestinian children who are brainwashed and sacrificed by this terrorist cult, it has fired thousands of rockets and sent suicide missions into Israel over the years, designed to kill and terrorise as many Israelis as possible, including children. And then there was the harm inflicted upon children on the 7th October 2023.

In case you have allowed yourself to forget the barbaric horror of the day the Bibas family were taken, I will remind you. On the 7th of October 2023, Hamas terrorists waged the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust — slaughtering babies, committing sexual violence, burning whole families alive, and taking 240 civilians hostage. Hamas murdered more than 1,200 Israelis during the attack.

I watched the Bearing Witness film in November 2023. There were many stills of dead children, their small innocent bodies still dressed in pyjamas, and their faces mercifully blurred. There were burnt, blackened bodies lying in the street. Dead women with deep green bruises on their necks and chests. One charred body of a woman, contorted into an unnatural position was naked from the waist down — we knew what that meant, even if Owen Jones didn’t. We saw people running from the terrorists and slaughtered. Some of this was filmed by the devils who committed the atrocities. They shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’. That phrase now evokes memories of the worst cruelty and violence I have ever seen. Do not tell me your god is great. I saw the face of evil.

It is too much to imagine that those poor babies were held in tunnels, without sunlight. Were they deprived of care, or hurt in the way we know other hostages were? Innocent babies? I can’t imagine the torture of being a mother in the tunnels.

Shiri Bibas, Ariel Bibas and Kfir Bibas were taken alive. They have been returned dead.

The coffins containing their bodies, along with that of Oded Lifshitz, were paraded in yet another macabre display by Hamas. This grotesque spectacle of propaganda has been met with widespread revulsion and has only deepened the anguish felt by the Israeli public.

Just days earlier, Hamas had paraded the body of Yarden Bibas, Shiri’s husband and the father of Ariel and Kfir. Yarden tried to protect his family during the massacre on 7th October. Now, after months of captivity and torment, he must bury them.

The world — well, not the monsters, the decent people of the world — hoped they remained alive. The Bibas family became a symbol of hope in this way. No hostage poster brought a lump to the throat like the beautiful smiling face of nine-month-old Kfir.

Amidst the sorrow we must never forget this family as they once were and the lifetime they should have been able to look forward to. They remain a symbol of humanity and the civilisation that must be fought for.

Deepest condolences to Yarden Bibas and all of the family and friends.

May their memories be a blessing.