In a discussion held today (Monday) in the Aliyah and Absorption Committee on speeding up conversion procedures for war conscripts, the story of Alina Pakhti, z"l, who was murdered at a Nova party on October 7 and buried outside the fence of the Beit Shean cemetery because she did not complete her conversion procedures, was also raised.
Committee Chairman MK Oded Forer (Yisrael Beiteinu) opened the meeting and said: "The story of the late Alina Palkheti is painful and intolerable. In light of this difficult case, I convened the discussion on speeding up conversion procedures for recruits in an iron sword war."
About a month after the massacre: Rally in memory of the victims of the Nova nature party // Photo: Shmuel Buchris
Forer said, "For three weeks, Alina was listed as missing and the family did not know whether she was murdered or kidnapped. Finally, the tragic news of her death reached them. This only began a series of emotional abuse that the family endured. Since Alina did not complete the conversion procedures she had started, the local religious council decided that Alina would be buried outside the Beit She'an cemetery. Not only that, but they also forbade publishing in the obituary the fact that there were shiva, since according to them, Alina is not Jewish – that's how they killed her a second time."
Olga, Alina's mother, said in a choked voice: "I believe in God. It hurts me the most that at the most difficult time, the behavior towards us was not good. Alina was murdered as a Jew. No one looked to see who was Christian and who was Jewish, our children were murdered together. I'm here so we don't repeat the same mistakes. It hurts. Alina was burned, they wouldn't let me identify her. I couldn't give her one last hug and it hurts. The obituary didn't say we were sitting shiva, they said we were receiving guests."
MK Oded Forer, Photo: David Vaknin
Discussion at the Aliyah and Absorption Committee (Archive), photo: Oren Ben Hakon
The chairman also told the story of the Kapshitter family, father Jenia (Evgeni), mother Dina and their two children, 8-year-old Elin and 5-year-old Eitan. "The family went camping in Ashkelon and were massacred on their way home to Beersheba by the terrorists. The father was buried outside the fence of the cemetery in Dimona. The remaining family members, the grandparents decided that the rest of the family would also be buried next to the father, even though they were "entitled" to be buried in the cemetery.
Committee Chairman Forer told the discussion participants: "We are doing the greatest disgrace to those who fell in defense of Israel and do not meet these and other conditions. Whoever sanctified the land of Israel with his blood, immigrated here and left his place in the Diaspora, I want to be buried next to him, even if it means being buried outside the fence. There is a 20% increase in requests for conversion, and we see a gap between military and civilian law.
"Alina was buried outside the fence in the Beit Shean cemetery and I am ashamed on behalf of the State of Israel and I apologize for how she was treated. This is exactly the opposite of what being Jewish seems to me. The goal of this discussion is to reach an outline that will no longer allow cases in which we kill the dead a second time. Maybe the fence should be demolished."
Cemetery (illustration), photo: None
MK Elazar Stern: "I apologize on behalf of all of Judaism, this is not the Judaism we are part of. Not our children's or our grandchildren's. That's not my Judaism. It is a cruel and harsh Judaism that distances us from the desire to be proud Jews. We encountered people who wanted to be Jews and buried them inside the fence. We found solutions even for those who didn't express their opinions."
MK Yulia Malinovsky added: "What happened on October 7 is not only the collapse of the security concept, but also the halachic concept. If we don't internalize this, after it's all over, we'll fall apart from within. If you want to be part of the people and the country, you can't stay with the old concepts." Rabbi Chaim Amsalem said at the hearing that the injustice that was done borders on crime, on scandal. "There is no description that can describe this very wrong thing."
The chairman turned to Gal Shem Tov of the Ministry of Religious Services and asked why civilians are not treated the way soldiers are treated. Shem Tov replied: "The issue of burial is a halachic issue." MK Forer pressed: "Is the IDF acting contrary to Jewish law?" Shem Tov: "There is an official body that behaves in one way and there is another. The religious council in each locality is subordinate to the rabbi of the local council."
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