An emotional meeting occurred this week between the bereaved daughter and sister, Orit Mark Ettinger, and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
Ettinger's father, Rabbi Miki Mark, was murdered in 2016 in a terrorist shooting attack while traveling to Jerusalem. In 2019, her brother, Shlomi, was killed in a motorcycle accident while serving in the Mossad. On October 7th, 2023, her cousin, Elhanan Kalmanson, fell while fighting Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Be'eri, and on the 31st of the month, her brother, Pdaya Mark, fell in battle in the northern Gaza Strip.
Orit, who saw Ambassador Huckabee at a welcome event for him at the Friends of Zion (FOZ) Museum in Jerusalem, described how, at first, she hesitated to approach him. "There were so many people, but I felt there was something special here," she wrote in a post on social media.
"I have to say, he truly moved me. The way he listened, the attention he gave to every single person who came up to him," she recounted.
Ettinger told the Ambassador about her losses.
She recounted how Huckabee looked her straight in the eyes, blessed her for her sacrifices, and said: “Thank you. Thank you for what you’re doing, in Israel and around the world, for Jews and for Christians.”
Ettinger remarked: "How fortunate we are to have people like him in this world. Each of us, in our own way, helps make this world a better place."