Dov Kol

July 23, 2005 - Dov Kol, 58, of Jerusalem and his wife Rachel were killed late Saturday night near the Kissufim crossing in the southern Gaza Strip while returning home from visiting family in Gush Katif.

Dov and Rachel had spent Shabbat with Rachel's sister in Ganei Tal where the whole family celebrated the recent birth of the Kols' first granddaughter, Hallel. They were returning home when the terrorists opened fire on the couple's car near the Gush Katif junction. Both were killed. Three others were wounded. The Islamic Jihad and Fatah al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.

Between 1976 and 1992 he worked in the NII and served as its spokesman for many years. Current NII spokesman Haim Fitussi described Kol as "a man of peace, who had Jewish and Arab friends from every part of the political spectrum. He always spoke about peace. It's hard to think that he of all people was killed by the bullets of a Palestinian terrorist. He was very open politically." Fitussi added, "Dov embodied the media's era of innocence, when he used to sit with the social and economic reporters in Jerusalem's Cafe Ta'amon. Everybody knew then that an agreement between journalists was binding. The reporters always knew that even if Dov gave an exclusive to one of them, he would never deprive them and would give them a good story in the future."

The Kols met in tragic circumstances. Dov was widowed 20 years ago. His first wife, Hani, was Rachel's best friend. "Rachel looked after Hani devotedly until the day she died in 1985. After this tragedy Dov and Rachel drew gradually closer until in July 1986 they were married," said a friend of the couple. Together they raised Hani's daughter, Hila, and their two children, Tamar and Yonatan.

The couple's friends said that due to their conflicting political views they had become a symbol of moderation and tolerance. "They knew how to combine religion with openness, left with right." Dov, from a secular Tel-Aviv family and holding leftist views, respected the religious way of life and right-wing views of his wife and her family.

Dov Kol was buried alongside his wife Rachel in Jerusalem's Har Hamenuhot Cemetery. He is survived by his daughters Hila, 24, and Tamar, 17, son Yehonatan, 15, and newborn granddaughter, Hallel, Hila's daughter.