The mother of an IDF soldier and dual Israeli American citizen kidnapped and murdered by Hamas in the West Bank died Monday, 30 years after the incident. Esther Wachsman was 76 year old.

Her son, Nachshon Wachsman, was abducted in October 1994 while hitching a ride near Jerusalem. He was held for six days, while Esther made an appeal to Israelis to pray for him.

Israel eventually mounted a failed attempt to rescue Wachsman, which resulted in his death, as well as the death of one of the soldiers in the extraction force, and the injury of several more. His captors were all killed in the raid.

Since Nachshon’s death, Esther committed herself to commemorating him and Cpt. Nir Poraz, the soldier who was killed during the attempted rescue.

Her funeral was held Monday night in Jerusalem.

She is survived by six children and dozens of grandchildren. Her husband Yehuda Wachsman passed away in 2020.

Esther Wachsman was born in a displaced people’s camp in Germany in 1947 to German Jewish Holocaust survivors whose entire families perished. The family later emigrated to Brooklyn.

She came to Israel in 1969, and received a master’s degree in history from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specializing in the Holocaust.

In Israel, Esther met her future husband Yehuda Wachsman. They had seven children, including Nachshon, and lived in Jerusalem.

A mother to a child with Down Syndrome, she was also active in Shalva, a non-profit that serves people with special needs. She also taught English at the Hebrew University High School for nearly three........

© The Times of Israel