October 7 · Personal story
Meni Godard
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Meni and Ayelet’s home in Kibbutz Be’eri
Current outcome
Returned for burial · November 13, 2025
Meni was killed on 7 October 2023; his body was returned to Israel on 13 November 2025.
01
Life before
Meni was born in Tel Aviv on 15 August 1950. His father Yaakov was a decorated swimmer who later became a celebrated lifeguard in Bat Yam; Meni inherited a love of sport, the sea, and people. After his older sister moved to Be’eri, Meni joined her there in the early 1960s. The local team became a defining part of his life: in 1974 he scored 52 goals in a season. At 18 he left football to serve in the Armored Corps reconnaissance unit and fought in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. After service he worked as a lifeguard at Yammit, where he met Ayelet; they married in September 1981. Their family grew to include Mor, Gal, Bar, and adopted son Goni. Back in Be’eri, Meni worked at the print shop, managed the general store and later the kibbutz pool, and coached local football. The pool became a gathering place: he organized weekly coffee and pastries, played backgammon, and welcomed people who needed company.
02
7 October
On 7 October 2023, attackers killed Meni and Ayelet at their home in Be’eri. Meni’s body was taken to Gaza. Their children mourned both parents while waiting for their father’s return.
03
After the attack
Meni’s family learned four months after the 7 October attack that his body had been taken to Gaza. His daughters described the repeated uncertainty as remains of other hostages were returned and they wondered whether each return was their father.
04
Return for burial
Meni’s body was returned to Israel on 13 November 2025. In an interview published two days later, his daughters described preparing for his funeral in Be’eri. Bar called the family’s feeling relief, rather than happiness.
05
Remembered
Meni and Ayelet left four children and six grandchildren. His daughters described a home full of drawings, jokes, and games, with their father working to help each child’s dreams and standing by people he met even briefly. Mor recalled that when Meni’s father grew old, Meni insisted on bringing him to Be’eri’s care home and personally caring for him until he died at 98. In the kibbutz, people knew Meni as the pool manager who made a weekly coffee table and as a football player and coach. His life connected family care, work, sport, and hospitality; his daughters said the family would remember their parents through a song by Arik Einstein.