Wedding of Avigdor Gavish and Ayelet Dickstein
Wedding of Avigdor Gavish and Ayelet DicksteinNo credit

Ayelet Dickstein and Avigdor Gavish, whose parents and other family members were killed in two terrorist attacks, were married on Sunday evening.

The two met as part of a support group for orphans run by the One Family organization. As time went by, the connection between them grew closer, and two and a half years ago they became a couple.

Terror struck Avigdor's family during the second Intifada in 2002, when he was a 19-year-old soldier who had just joined the army. On the night of the seder, 24 hours after the horrific massacre at the Park Hotel in Netanya, a Palestinian Arab terrorist infiltrated his parents' home in the settlement of Elon Moreh in Samaria.

The terrorist opened fire, mortally wounding his father David, who later died of his wounds, and murdered his mother Rachel and her father, Yitzhak Kanner, who had joined the family for the seder. The terrorist then shot Avraham Gavish, Avigdor's eldest brother, who was then an officer with the rank of major in Sayeret Matkal.

The injured Avraham asked Avigdor to bring his weapon which was upstairs. Avigdor, who hadn't yet learned how to shoot, stayed composed and brought the gun to Avraham and then ran to check on the rest of his siblings. Meanwhile, Avraham's condition worsened, and he was unable to use the weapon. He later died from his wounds. The terrorist was killed by IDF forces who were called to the scene.

Four months later, terror struck Ayelet's family. At the end of July 2002, the Dickstein family was traveling from their hometown of Psagot to relatives in the Ma'on settlement in Mount Hebron. Their car was fired on by terrorists on the way. Shuv-el, Ayelet's younger brother, was wounded as well as her mother Chana.

Her father Yosef stopped the car and tried to help his seriously wounded wife and son and was shot to death. Later, Chana and Shuv-el died from their wounds. Ayelet, a young girl at the time, maintained her composure and supported her remaining siblings in the car.