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‘No Arab should remain in Gaza,’ Shani Louk’s father declares

“Blotting out the memory of Amalek is our job,” said bereaved father Nissim Louk.

Nissim and Ricarda Louk at their daughter Shani Louk's funeral in Srigim, west of Jerusalem, on May 19, 2024. Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90.
Nissim and Ricarda Louk at their daughter Shani Louk’s funeral in Srigim, west of Jerusalem, on May 19, 2024. Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90.

Nissim Louk, whose daughter Shani was murdered by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7, 2023, Supernova music festival massacre, urged the Israeli army on Friday to make sure that “no Arab remains in Gaza.

“Since the war, Hamas has only become stronger, more powerful, and has become extremely wealthy,” the bereaved father said in an interview with Channel 14 News. “Hamas will never be ready to give up this rule—not just today, never,” he added.

Louk noted that this Saturday marks Shabbat Zachor, the “Sabbath of Remembering,” which precedes Purim. The traditional Torah reading includes Deuteronomy 25:17-19, while the traditional haftarah recalls God’s command to King Saul to finally annihilate Amalek (I Samuel 15).

“God said this twice: in the Book of Exodus, as well as in the Book of Deuteronomy. In the Book of Exodus, He said, ‘I will erase the memory of Amalek,’ and in the Book of Deuteronomy, He said, ‘You shall erase the memory of Amalek,’” said Louk.

According to Jewish tradition, the Amalekites attacked after the Exodus from Egypt. The comparison has been used throughout the ages for those who seek to eradicate the Jewish people, including the Nazis.

“Now it is our job to make sure that no Arab remains in Gaza,” Louk declared. “And blotting out the memory of Amalek is our job.

“We can’t live with neighbors like these. You need to understand, would you want a neighbor who is a rapist, a necrophile, a murderer, and he’s right next to us, just a few hundred meters away? They want to repeat what happened on Oct. 7 over and over again,” explained Louk.

The half-naked corpse of Shani Louk, 22, who was a dual German-Israeli citizen, was taken to Gaza after Hamas terrorists brutally murdered her. Her body was recovered by Israel Defense Forces soldiers in May.

On Oct. 7, 2023, thousands of Gazans invaded the northwestern Negev and massacred some 1,200 people, kidnapping 251 more into the Strip.

Akiva Van Koningsveld is a news desk editor for JNS.org. Originally from The Hague, he made the big move from the Netherlands to Israel in 2020. Before joining JNS, he worked as a policy officer at the Center for Information and Documentation Israel, a Dutch organization dedicated to fighting antisemitism and spreading awareness about the Arab-Israel conflict. With a passion for storytelling and justice, he studied journalism at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht and later earned a law degree from Utrecht University, focusing on human rights and civil liability.
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