Ron Shemer, 23, from Lod, was murdered by Hamas at the Supernova music festival on October 7.
He was at the festival with a large group of childhood friends, some of whom managed to get in their car and escape. They offered Shemer a ride as well, but he would not leave his friends Dan and Omer, who were under the influence and unable to run very fast or drive.
The three were leaving on foot when a siren forced them into a shelter. Finding the first two entirely full, they huddled in the third shelter they could find. Eventually, Hamas terrorists approached the shelter, and Shemer waited at the entrance to try and fight them. Unfortunately, they stopped some distance away and threw grenades. Dan and Omer were severely injured, and Dan later died from his wounds. Shemer was the least hurt.
Omer reported hearing Shemer fighting with the terrorists outside the shelter, and eventually, he was able to escape. He made it approximately 500 meters away from the shelter before he was shot and killed.
“I’m sure if it wasn’t for that grenade, you would have succeeded,” wrote Shemer’s father, Oren, in a memorial post on Instagram.
He was buried on October 13 at the New Cemetery in Lod.
כבר מתגעגע
Posted by Oren Shemer on Thursday, October 19, 2023
Shemer is survived by his parents, Sigalit and Oren, and his younger brother Bari.
In a memorial post online, his mother wrote that he loved to travel. Along the way, he made many friends who loved him and traveled to Israel to attend his shiva.
She added that he enjoyed donating his time; he volunteered at a camp for at-risk youth in the United States and also volunteered in a COVID-19 lab during the pandemic.
His brother Bari wrote several posts on social media eulogizing Shemer, praising his heroic acts on October 7.
“My brother is a hero, and I am as proud as could be that he fought until the very last moment.”