T

he Malka family’s home in Givat Ezer became a center of pilgrimage for thousands if mourners to pay respects to the parents of slain Border Control Officer Hadas Malka, but two special visitors came, which made the tears and laughter flowed for the first time for Hadas Malka’s grieving parents, those visitors were none other Sigal and Ofer Cohen, the parents of Hadar Cohen, the the Border Control officer who was murdered a year and four months ago in the same place at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem and under very similar circumstances.

For more than an hour, the families of Hadas and Hadar sat and talked about the difficult circumstances that connected them.

During the meeting, David and Ofer sat close by and talked like two old acquaintances. They did not know each other before. Their deceased girls did not either. But when they met, it seemed that they had known each other for years, when they embraced for a long time and formed a warm connection, one that was born from a common fate. Around them were many family members. Sigal, the mother of Hadar Z”L and Geula, the mother of Hadas Z”L, who sat next to each other. “This is the first time in the past two days that something has lifted their spirits for a few minutes,” said one member of the family who was standing on the sidelines.

At the end of the heartbreaking meeting between the bereaved families, Ofer Cohen, Hadar’s father, said: “It goes without saying, we will always help the Malka family and support them. We have a common fate, unfortunately. Until my very last day, we will be with them in every way. We all joined a family called MAGAV (the Border Police) it’s a family that it supports and lifts each other up.”

David Malka said with pain, “I want to thank all the Border Police staff who are in touch with us and are working hard day and night to console us.” Ofer Cohen added, “This is the exact same same situation, the same kind of attack that our daughters succumbed to. When I heard this, I was in shock on Friday. It’s very hard to hear about a Border Police fighter who was killed,, especially a female that died in very similar circumstances it was like my daughter died all over again, a year and four months later, it is very sad.”

Geula and David, Hadas’s parents, said yesterday in tears that “Hadas enlisted in the navy as a noncommissioned officer but after seven months at the job she was not happy. She did the basic training course at the Border Police, so she actually did two basic training courses, then she took a course in Border Guard commanders, which is a very difficult course, and she insisted on the tougher job of commanding males not females.”

The parents continued to tell us about the fears that accompanied them: “We were worried, we had a cloud above us all the time, the fear that something would happen to her, especially in basic training when she was a commanding officers and served in the Jerusalem area,” said her parents.

The mother, Geula, said with great pain, “She was a very stubborn girl, a girl who did not want to be indoors, she needed space, and despite all the difficulties in the role of a combat soldier, she also enrolled to study fitness and nutrition instructors at the Wingate Institute. After her service and studies her plans were to go abroad. She wanted to tour South America and the United States, and she saved a significant sum of her salary for those trips, which sadly she will never experience”

“Hadas was a brave fighter who fought to guard Jerusalem, which is today the frontline of the State of Israel,” said Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan yesterday. “I must say that I did not see a funeral with so many participants, as many thousands came from all over the State of Israel to pay homage to Hadas. Hadas was a courageous fighter who fought to stand on the front line of defending the State of Israel.”

Translated from Yediot Acharonot