Yitzhak Dori

Nov 10, 2002 - Yitzhak Dori, 44, of Kibbutz Metzer, was one of five people shot and killed by a terrorist who infiltrated the kibbutz, located east of Hadera near the Green Line.

Dori, the kibbutz secretary, was on call as a member of the kibbutz emergency response team and was the first to arrive at the scene after Tirza Damari, 42, of Elyachin, was shot by the intruder. Dori was killed in an exchange of fire.

The next killed were Revital Ohayon, 34, and her two sons, Matan, 5, and Noam, 4. The Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack. The terrorist escaped.

Dori, a native of Jerusalem, came to Kibbutz Metzer in 1976 as part of an IDF Nahal Corps pioneering group affiliated with the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement. As kibbutz secretary in the past 18 months, he was active in the community's struggle to coexist with local Arab villages on both sides of the Green Line despite ongoing tensions, among them the effort to assure that the security fence being built in the area would not cut harm the residents of the nearby Arab villages by cutting them off from their fields.

Dori, who recently completed a Masters degree in Israeli history and geography, taught in secondary schools run by kibbutz communities in the area. "He was an amazing, splendid person," said Shlomit Lotam, his predecessor as kibbutz secretary. "He was an outstanding organizer who loved nature hikes, and would lead young and old on hikes. He was unusually charismatic and a true leader."