OP-ED: Mother of Oct. 7 victim confronted Carney with Hamas atrocities

After trying for three months to speak with Prime Minister Mark Carney about the atrocities of Oct. 7/23, Jacqui Rivers Vital was finally granted an audience in early November

After trying for three months to speak with Prime Minister Mark Carney about the atrocities of Oct. 7/23, Jacqui Rivers Vital was finally granted an audience in early November.

Vital, who grew up in Ottawa and is a dual citizen of Israel and Canada, told Carney what happened to her 33-year-old daughter Adi Vital-Kaploun (also a dual Canadian and Israeli citizen), murdered in her safe room by Hamas terrorists in front of her two boys, Negev, then 3 and little Eshel, then six months.

This occurred on Kibbutz Holit, a small kibbutz of just 83 people about 2km from the Gaza border. A total of 15 residents (including three workers from Thailand) were slaughtered in cold blood by the terrorists on that horrible day.

Vital said she kept bugging foreign affairs minister Anita Anand and Carney’s office over and over again, with the help of the lawyer representing other Canadian families who lost loved ones on Oct. 7.

The date kept changing, but she finally saw him on Nov. 6.

”My purpose was to tell Adi’s story,” she said.

”I wanted him to know the story.”

”It was something I needed to do for me … more than that I can’t do,” she said, noting he was moved by her story.

”I’m not going to change his policies,” she said, perhaps referring to the fact that he declared his support for a Palestinian state just two days before the Jewish New Year and has repeatedly spoken out against Israel.

Vital’s daughter was but one of the more than 1,200 innocent Israelis brutally raped, burned and murdered on Oct. 7 by Hamas terrorists. Some 400 young people were chased down like animals and shot to death while fleeing the Nova music festival, a joyous event which was held to celebrate peace.

A moving tribute to all of those killed is now on that site.

Although Vital has travelled across Canada telling her story and raising funds to rebuild the kibbutz, she met with 33 of us in Jerusalem while we were on a Friends of Jewish National Fund mission to Israel.

Sparing no detail, Vital, a mother of four, said when Hamas broke down the fence and entered the kibbutz, Adi took her two sons and their M-16 into their safe room and managed to shoot one of the terrorists before being shot herself.

Her mom said she had the presence of mind to call her husband, Anani, to ask him how to use the rifle.

After leaving Adi’s boobytrapped body (grenades were placed underneath) under the sofa in the safe room, the terrorists, likely for “some publicity stunt” took the two little boys 8 km to Rafah along with their neighbour Avital and then let them go after crossing the border.

Negev had a shrapnel injury to his foot, but with Avital’s help, they managed to make their way back to Israel.

Yaroun, Jacqui’s husband, said Avital promised the traumatized and wounded Negev an apple if he returned to the kibbutz.

Adi worked in cyber-security, served in the elite intelligence unit of the IDF, danced, ran, made her own granola, played the saxaphone and was an inspiration to all around her, we heard.

Vital was in Canada when her daughter was killed. Adi’s husban,d Anani — they were high school sweethearts— was away from the kibbutz.

Yaroun Vital happened to be visiting Adi and was in the kibbutz guest house a few metres away. When he looked out the window, he said he saw terrorists trying to break down the fence.

He said they were wearing knapsacks with dynamite and grenades and carrying rifles.

”I heard shooting all around and lots of screaming,” he told us.

He went back to the safe room and he could hear them breaking down the doors, including the one beside him.

”I heard the people asking for mercy … of course, they had no mercy,” he said.

Instead of coming to his house, they went to another house.

At 12:30 p.m., he said Adi sent him a message telling him to stay safe.

There was nothing after that.

From the safe house, he started to call people to “say goodbye.”

He was in the safe room for 11 hours when five IDF soldiers came to the door.

Yaroun said when he went to Adi’s home, it was like a battlefield with bullets everywhere and 10 empty magazines beside the safe room door.

He said he later found out that he was not targeted because the terrorists didn’t think anyone was in that home.

They had maps of the kibbutz, which were marked with Xs where people were living, including the location of the safe room

He said all the information had been provided to Hamas on the layout of the homes and who lived there over months by the 25,000-30,000 people who came in from Gaza to work on the kibbutzim.

He said some Gazans even came back to the kibbutz to loot the homes where Israelis were killed.

So much for poor innocent Palestinians.

“That’s why I’m here telling you this story,” Yaroun said.

Vital said she needed to meet with Carney because he “doesn’t know” about Adi or the seven other stories of Canadians killed on 10/7.

Vital said she doesn’t really care what Carney takes away from her meeting—that she just wanted to share the horrible story of a daughter taken way before her time by sadistic terrorists.

While many worldwide have chosen to forget the atrocities of 10/7 and have turned on Israel in the most heinous way, it is clear that Vital is determined to ensure we “never forget.”