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Burial of non-Jewish victim of Hamas massacre sparks controversy

Alina Plahtis’s father is Jewish and she began a conversion process during her IDF service but had not completed it.

By JNS

A fence that separates graves at a cemetery in the Israeli city of Beit She’an based on religion will be lowered and covered with vegetation following an uproar over the separate burial of a victim of the Hamas attack who is not Jewish according to traditional Jewish law.

The Chief Rabbinate official’s announcement on Thursday came after public criticism over the burial of Alina Plahti, 23, who was buried last month at a separate compound of the city’s New Cemetery.

Her father is Jewish and she began a conversion process during her IDF service but had not completed it.

Plahti, who was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova music festival near the border with Gaza, was interred in the section of the cemetery for people who are not considered Jewish according to halachah, Jewish religious law.

Her family expressed the wish that she had been buried in the central section of the cemetery, and not be separated by a tall fence.

Rabbinical officials have issued various rulings on the mixed burial of Jews and non-Jews, ranging from unequivocal rejection of the prospect to permission to do it if this helps preserve peaceful relations.

Religious ceremonies for Jews in Israel, including funerals and weddings, remain under the control of the ultra-Orthodox.