Oded's daughter, Sharone Lifschitz[Missing Credit]
Born in Haifa on May 11, 1940, Oded worked as a journalist and a peace activist. In 1972, he campaigned for Bedouins who had been expelled from the Sinai Peninsula by Israeli authorities.
A decade later, he was one of the first journalists to report on the Sabra and Shatila massacres, when Israeli-backed Christian militias killed between 800 and 2,000 Palestinians in Beirut refugee camps.
But Oded was foremost a family man, a father, a grandfather and great-grandfather and the husband of Yocheved, who was also taken captive and released at the end of October 2023.
Talking about the 503 days her father was in captivity, Sharone said: “Sometimes, I felt upset I didn’t know more, but I know he didn’t give up on humanity and his wish to make the world a better place.”
Calling on everyone “to pledge to do something” in his memory, she said: “I think we can all do more. We have each other. We have the idea that we can affect reality.”
The Chief Rabbi, addressing Sharone, described Oded and his family as “people of dignity, who have always treated others with dignity”, adding: “You’ve devoted your lives for the sake of every single human being, whoever they might be.”
The Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis[Missing Credit]
Saying that while Oded would be remembered for how he died, “I believe we will equally remember him for the way in which he lived. He was a man who lived to give, to give to one and all, an exceptionally inspirational person.”
A number of MPs came to express condolences, including Stella Creasy, Tulip Siddiq, Sarah Sackman and Hamish Falconer. Lord Katz also attended, as did Stephen Brisley, brother of Lianne Sharabi and uncle of Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13. His brother-in-law, Eli Sharabi, was released from Hamas captivity last month.
Giving a deeply emotional speech, Stella Creasy, MP for Walthamstow, where Sharone is a constituent, said that the first time she met Sharone, “I knew that her fight was my fight…and that has not stopped, and it will not stop because [Sharone] has inspired me in ways I can’t begin to explain”.
She added: “I would not have blamed her if she had wanted to …be angry, but that first time – every time – she spoke for what I believe she learnt from her father, for the hope and determination that the world could be a better place.”
MP Stella Creasy[Missing Credit]
Creasy said that Sharone “has been a voice piercing the laziness of the way which we talk about Israel and Palestine in British politics, puncturing the hatred, puncturing the people who want to say that you have to pick a side, and I know she learnt that first hand from Oded.”
Creasy told visitors that Oded and what he had stood for would continue to inspire her to fight to bring home the remaining 59 hostages, to call for a two-state solution and “for the peace that he fought so much of his life for”.
Oded was known on his kibbutz for nurturing a beautiful cacti garden with his wife, and the shiva tent was decked with small pots of cacti. On large screens, there were images of Oded with his family and footage of him playing the piano, something he loved to do.
Cacti at the shiva for Oded Lifschitz[Missing Credit]
Long-time friend Nurit Heath, who met Oded when they were both teenagers at school, recalled that he was “extremely left-wing, with big ideas. He lived by them and didn’t think of himself. I thought he would grow out of it, but, in contrast, the more he used them to live by the values of justice and peace.”
Nurit said that Oded had been a supporter of the movement Shalom Achshav (Peace Now) and used to drive Gazans for treatment in Israeli hospitals. “He did everything to fight for a two-state solution. [Palestinians] couldn’t have had a better advocate for their future.”
Describing his death as “[the lowest] level of criminality that cruelty can achieve”, Nurit said it was a complete contrast to the values by which he lived his life.
“Oded was a very good example to other human beings as how human beings should live...[his] way of life [will] stay with us forever.”
Nurit Heath, who was a long-standing friend of Oded's[Missing Credit]
Noam Sagi, the son of released hostage Ada Sagi, said that Oded’s “moral compass was always switched on, steadfast and unwavering”.
He paid tribute to Sharone, whom he has known since they had both been children on the same kibbutz, saying: “For so long, she fought so hard to bring him home. It was heroic. She carried the battle for her father and all the hostages, a battle Oded would have been so proud of.”
Raymond Simonson, who had arranged the community shiva, told the JC: “I had seen these shiva tents in Israel, and thought that we could offer that to Sharone here. She thought that 20 or 30 people would turn up, but there have been hundreds. We just wanted her to feel surrounded by love.”
