Family of slain Shin Bet worker slams Zini over memorial removal

Amid an uproar over a Shin Bet memorial for victims of the October 7 attack, Amit Idan, the brother-in-law of murdered journalist Roee Idan and the brother-in-law of slain Shin Bet employee Samdar Idan, criticized Shin Bet chief David Zini for ordering the memorial display dismantled. Amit Idan told Walla that erasing the remembrance of October 7 does nothing but reopen wounds, saying, “What does this denial of October 7 give? What does it give?” and calling the move, “It looks like returning a favor to the people who recommended him for the job.”

Shin Bet confirmed on Thursday that Zini had ordered the removal of an exhibition honoring Shin Bet fallen members killed in the October 7 massacre. The agency said the attack was “one of the biggest and most painful failures the State of Israel has known,” but argued that showing only some of the fallen “reduces the failure and reflects only part of the terrible disaster that befell us.” It said the service’s headquarters still has a memorial wall displaying all of its fallen, not just a small portion.

Reut Adri, mother of Shin Bet fighter Ido Adri, who was murdered at the Nova music festival, also condemned Zini. She said his words and actions continue the government’s effort to erase the massacre and amount to further abandonment of her son and other Shin Bet fighters after their deaths. Adri, who is active in the October Council campaign for a state inquiry commission, said her son loved the Shin Bet headquarters and that everyone entering it should see the scale of the failure the service itself took responsibility for. “Zini, take back these unforgivable words and actions,” she said.

The article also revisits the fate of the Idan family from Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Roee Idan, a press photographer, sent the newsroom images of paragliders entering the kibbutz shortly before he found Samdar’s body and was killed himself while trying to save their three children, Abigail, 3, Amalia, 6, and Michael, 9. After their father was murdered, with Abigail in his arms, the attacker motioned for Amalia and Michael to flee. They hid in a closet for about 12 hours until rescued. Abigail later reached the home of family friend Uriah Brodtz, but was kidnapped with his family to Gaza and freed in the first hostage deal.