The Academy of the Hebrew Languages announced on Friday that it has changed the Hebrew name of the spotted orange butterfly in honor of murdered Israeli hostage Ariel Bibas, 4.
The name was changed from Kitmit Yerushalayim (Orange Jerusalem) to Kitmit Ariel (Orange Ariel) in memory of Ariel, who was killed by Palestinian terrorists along with his mother and nine-month old brother shortly after the family was abducted from their homes in southern Israel during the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7, 2023.
The Hebrew word Ariel is one of the 70 names of Jerusalem.
“May this be some consolation in your grief, and may his memory be a remembrance for all those who perished and fell in this great disaster,” the academy wrote to the child’s father, Yarden, who was released from captivity in February.
The decision to rename the Melitaea ornata (eastern knapweed fritillary) butterfly was taken unanimously by the Academy after securing the permission of Yarden Bibas.
The Bibas family became a symbol of the Oct. 7 massacre, while the color orange became associated with the effort to free them, inspired by the vivid reddish orange hair of Ariel and his younger brother, Kfir. The two siblings were brutally murdered by their Palestinian captors with “bare hands,” according to the Israeli military.