Adi Vital-Kaploun, 33, a Canadian citizen, was murdered by Hamas on her kibbutz

by Lila Sarick, Canadian Jewish News

(CJN) – Adi Vital-Kaploun, 33, was a devoted mother of two young children, with a successful career in cybersecurity when she was murdered at her home by Hamas terrorists on Kibbutz Holit on Oct. 7.

A Canadian citizen, with deep ties to an extended family in Ottawa, Vital-Kaploun was raised in Israel, Jewish Federation of Ottawa CEO Andrea Freedman said at a brief press conference on Oct. 11.

“Adi brought love, laughter and a sense of purpose to her parents and siblings, the one always leading the way in a very close family,” Freedman said in a statement she read on behalf of the family. “Her children are miraculously home safe, but she is not. She was murdered by terrorists in her home, just for being Jewish.”

“Adi was an amazing woman with so many talents. She expressed herself through her dance, playing saxophone and was an amazing basketball player. Adi was driven from a young age on a path to success in everything she set her mind to, having recently completing her master’s after completing a degree in chemical engineering,” the family’s statement said.

In an interview on Israeli television’s Channel 12, Avital Aladjem described how she was hiding in a closet in her house on the kibbutz and texting with her neighbour, Vital-Kaploun, when the terrorists entered her home and killed a man Aladjem had been hiding with.

Aladjem was dragged out of her hiding place and the terrorists then brought Vital-Kaploun’s two children, Eshel, 4 months old, and 4-year-old Negev to her and started to march the three of them toward Gaza. Negev had been shot in the foot and one of the terrorists was carrying him, she said.

Once the three captives crossed into Gaza, the terrorists left them and Aladjem turned around and carried the children back to the kibbutz, hiding behind a sand dune at one point to avoid other Hamas forces.

The children were safely reunited with their father, but Aladjem said she never saw their mother, Adi.

“Adi’s family was willing to have me share their story so that you can have a face of one of those 1,100 families who are in pain, who are shattered, all because of the terrorist entity Hamas,” Freedman said.

“We hear 1,100 Israelis were brutally murdered and we don’t know any of their names. We have trouble seeing their faces. We have trouble remembering that all of these people murdered were somebody’s child, they were somebody’s mother, they were somebody’s father. They have friends and family who are in deep, deep mourning today.”

Two other Canadians have been killed in the conflict. Ben Mizrachi, 22, of Vancouver and Alexandre Look, 33, of Montreal were both killed while attending a music festival in the south of Israel.

Vivian Silver, originally from Winnipeg, is missing from her home on Kibbutz Be’eri, which was invaded by Hamas fighters on Oct. 7. Silver, 74, has spent decades as a peace activist in Israel.

This article was reprinted from Canadian Jewish News on October 11.

It was further reported in an Oct. 12 CBC article that in the early moments that Hamas militants were storming onto their kibbutz, Vital-Kaploun texted to her father and her husband to stay where they were, and not to come to them.

It was an act that “certainly saved their lives,” said her cousin-in-law, Aaron Smith, in an interview with CBC Radio’s Ottawa Morning.

“And however she was able to convince the terrorists that murdered her to take her kids to her neighbour — she saved their lives as well. She’s a hero.”