Deborah Shahar Troen Mathias and Shlomi Mathias were the victims – A Brandeis University professor’s daughter and son-in-law were killed while covering their adolescent boy with their body when Hamas terrorists raided their home in Israel over the weekend, the educator has revealed.
Ilan Troen, an Israeli scholar who recently retired from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, said his daughter, Debbie Shahar Troen Mathias, and her husband, Shlomi Mathias, were sheltering in a safe room when Gaza gunmen entered their home and opened fire, killing the couple and injuring their son, Rotem Mathias, 16 years old. “My daughter and son-in-law were killed today, but in dying, they saved the life of [my teenage grandson].” They tracked his corpse. They were all in the safe together.
Troen told NPR, “And they covered his body, and he was saved.” “He – nevertheless, a bullet penetrated them and went into his abdomen,” he explained, despite the fact that his son survived.
Heartfelt tributes flooded in for the couple, with one calling Shlomi “a person full of love who loved to make music, loved to teach, loved life, and loved the country he lived in.” Debbie’s friend described her as a “beautiful soul” and posted a photo of the couple.
“I can’t believe My friend and fellow poet Debbie Shahar Troen Mathias and her husband were murdered in this senseless and horrific attack on Israel,” Ayala Zarfjian posted on her Facebook page. “We encouraged each other by writing poetry online.” She was stunning.
She has a lovely soul. I was overjoyed to see beautiful photos from their vacation in the Netherlands last week. “May you rest in peace.” Troen’s daughter and son-in-law were among the 600 Israeli citizens slain in the surprise attack by Hamas militants, according to Brandeis University.
“We at Brandeis are deeply saddened to learn that Professor Troen has lost his daughter and son-in-law in the tragic events unfolding in Israel.” Ilan, a Brandeis alumnus, and his family have long been valued members of the Brandeis community, and we remember Ilan, Carol, and their entire family,” the university said in a statement to WBZ.
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“We condemn in the strongest way terrorism such as we have seen today perpetrated against innocent civilians,” the statement went on to say. As the news circulated, Martin Kramer, a historian at Tel Aviv University, observed Troen had lately retired and returned to Israel. “My dear friend Ilan Troen, who has done so much for Israel studies in America, has suffered a tragic loss.”
He recently retired from Brandeis and relocated to Israel. “A tragedy wrapped in a miracle,” Kramer wrote. Troen noted in a 2017 post on the university’s website announcing his retirement that he always encouraged students to study Israel “not with collaboration nor with abject criticism, but as one would study other societies with all their complexities and contradictions.”
On Sunday, Israel’s security cabinet agreed to declare war, the first time since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a “long and difficult war” as his administration fought against the unexpected attack by Hamas terrorists that killed at least 600 Israeli people. “We are about to embark on a long and difficult war.”
A horrific attack by Hamas dragged us into the conflict. “The first phase concludes in these hours by destroying the majority of enemy forces that have infiltrated our territory,” Netanyahu remarked, according to a translation. “We will restore security to the citizens of Israel and we will win.”
