Gabbai, Shlomo-Salomon

Born in 1946 in Casablanca, Morocco, he immigrated to Israel with his parents in 1956. He studied at the Nativ Eliyahu religious elementary school and continued his studies at the vocational high school in the town’s youth center. In 11th grade he left school and went to work to help support the family. Shlomo was interested in sports, played table tennis and won in a regional championship. He also participated in a boxing class. In 1964 he joined the IDF and served in the infantry battalion. After his release he began to work as a diamond cutter – first as an employee, and later as an independent factory owner in Netanya, where he settled. On May 10, 1982 he was drafted into active reserve duty in the north of the country. During his service, on 18 Tamuz, July 9, 1982, while on vacation, he visited his factory and came across two masked men who had come to steal diamonds. Shlomo tried to fight them, but they shot and killed him. He was 36 when he fell during his service. After his death, he was promoted to corporal, leaving behind a wife, three children, parents, brothers and sisters. He was laid to rest in the Netanya cemetery.