One of the 11 Americans killed in the Hamas attack on Israel has been identified as a 32-year-old academic from Seattle who was hiding in a kibbutz closet when the terrorists stormed.
Hayim Katsman, who received his doctorate from the University of Washington’s Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies in 2021, was living in Holit, a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip border, while working on research, the Seattle reported. Times.
His mother, Hanna Katsman, told ABC News that she initially thought he had been kidnapped, but later discovered that the invading terrorists had killed him early Saturday.
“I’ve gotten a lot of messages from people who worked with Hayim or who knew him, or who met him during his travels and how warm he was, how open,” he told the outlet. “He was a very tolerant person and a very loyal friend. He had a good sense of humor. He took things calmly.”
Avital Alajem, a friend and neighbor who was with Katsman when he died, told CNN that she was hiding with him in the closet when the terrorists broke in and shot her.
Alajem, who was unharmed in the attack, credited Katsman with saving her life before she was kidnapped and taken to Gaza along with her two children.
Hayim Katsman, a 32-year-old Seattle academic who earned a doctorate from the University of Washington, was among 11 Americans killed by Hamas.hannah.katsman/facebook Katsman died when terrorists burst into the room where he was hiding. a friend.hayim.katsman/facebook
She told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that she and the children were later released.
“Hayim in Hebrew is ‘life’. That is the meaning of his name. And he gave life to this planet while he saved me, and I was able to save two children,” he said.
Katsman, who lived in the city of Petah Tikva before moving to the kibbutz, was remembered Monday by his friends and professors at the University of Washington as an empathetic person.
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His dissertation, which focused on religious Zionism in Israel, was dedicated to “all forms of life that exist between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea,” according to the Seattle Times.
Francis Abugbilla, a former roommate and classmate, described Katsman as a “sweet soul.”
“On Saturday morning, I texted him: ‘Hi Hayim, I hope you’re doing well amid the current situation,'” he told the outlet. “He read it, but I didn’t get a response from him.”
Katsman’s friend Avital Alajem credited him with saving his life during the attack. ANONYMOUS/AFP via Getty Images
A fellow student later informed Abugbilla that Katsman was dead.
“For me it’s like a dream. “I can’t believe we lost such an excellent academic… that he was there to make the world a better place for everyone,” she said.
“He was always someone who would fight for the less privileged. To preserve his memory it is necessary that we all live up to what he represented,” Abugbilla added.
Charlie-Moshé Elias, who met Katsman while in the University of Washington’s Jewish studies program, said the academic had advocated for peace in the region and had criticized the Israeli government.
Katsman lived in a kibbutz near the border with the Gaza Strip.AP
Liora Halperin, a professor of history and international studies at the University of Washington who served on Katsman’s thesis committee, told the outlet that “his work helps illuminate some of the dynamics that have brought us to this moment.”
In 2020, Katsman won the Baruch Kimmerling Prize for best graduate work from the Association for Israel Studies, according to the University of Washington website.
“He was really involved in the issues that matter in Israel and in the Israel-Palestine space,” Halperin said. “Losing someone who not only acted to promote a better society, but also dedicated his academic life to studying the place in which he lived, is obviously tragic.”
Another University of Washington professor, James Wellman, told KOMO News that Katsman “was a young guy and he had his whole world waiting for him and I can’t believe it even now.
“The fact that they killed this wonderful human being who had no malice towards either party, he was a beautiful human being,” he added.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn