ISRAEL (PIX11) — A funeral was held in Israel for a recent Columbia University graduate who was attending a friend’s wedding when he was killed in a terrorist attack in the West Bank Monday.
Elan Ganeles, 27, was driving through a stretch of highway in the West Bank when terrorists pulled up to his vehicle and opened fire, killing the American.
Israeli troops arrested three Palestinians suspected of being involved in the killing. It’s the latest in a surge of terror killings in the West Bank.
“Elan Ganeles was a New Yorker. His loss is a tragedy. His generation deserves a world free of terror, a world where we stand up in the face of hate and reject the forces who divide us,” Mayor Eric Adams said on Twitter.
Ganeles’ family flew to Israel for the funeral, where Israelis held up signs in a show of support and solidarity. At the funeral, Ganeles’ parents spoke of his love of nature, travel and culture.
There was also grief among those who knew him back in his tight-knit Jewish community in West Hartford, Connecticut.
Ganeles graduated from Columbia University in May. He double-majored in sustainable development and neuroscience.
