Story highlights Leanne Nasser begged her parents to let her go to Istanbul

She was killed in the attack on the nightclub

(CNN) Leanne Nasser begged her parents to let her go to Istanbul. She had never been abroad. Never left Israel. Her three friends were going to the city on the Bosporus to celebrate New Year's Eve and she wanted to go with them.

Her father refused. He was worried Istanbul wasn't safe and he wanted her to stay home. Despondent, she turned to her aunt, Layal Masarweh, who intervened on her behalf.

Istanbul nightclub victim Leanne Nasser.

"Her father was totally against that. He was saying that Istanbul is too dangerous and that she should not go at all. But she insisted, saying that nothing will happen to her," Masarweh told CNN.

Nasser, 18, from Tira, an Arab town in central Israel, had big plans for the future after finishing high school in June. She worked at a dental clinic and was saving to buy a car. She wanted to be a dentist one day. But first was New Year's Eve and celebrating the start of 2017.

The four women made their way to the Reina restaurant on the Bosporus in Istanbul. A few hours before midnight, she posted a picture to Snapchat. In it, she flashed a half-smile, a floral crown atop her long, dark hair. Her brown eyes looked straight at the camera.

Read More