The family of Jake Marlowe, a British Jewish man missing in Israel has confirmed he is dead.
Jake, a former JFS pupil, was working on security at the Nova dance music festival on Saturday and helped to evacuate revellers when they came under attack.
An Arsenal fan who grew up in north London before moving to Israel in 2021, Jake was working at the all-night festival being held near Kibbutz Re'im, close to the Gaza Strip, where at least 260 people were murdered when Hamas terrorists attacked.
He had been working alongside his friends Shlomi Ziv, and Aviv Eliyahu, who have also been reported missing.
Speaking to the JC earlier this week, before Jake's death had been confirmed, Daniel Aboudy, a lifelong friend said: "Even in the last moments at this event when there were signals of rockets coming over and terrorists coming in he tried to help people evacuate.”
Aboudy received a WhatsApp voicenote recorded by his friend early on Saturday explaining that he was trying to get festival-goers to safety .
“It is a testament to his character, he would give the shirt off his back to help others,” Aboudy continued.
“I hope in making the sacrifices he tends to make he didn’t do anything reckless.”
The message, Aboudy said, was “very brief”, and was recorded at about 9am local time.
“It was saying ‘Things are going on around Gaza, they’re coming in from there, we’re trying to evacuate everyone, I’m on an ATV [a quad bike] and we are telling everyone to get out.’”
Explaining why his friend made the move from the UK to Israel, Aboudy said Jake had become increasingly interested in genealogy, and learning about his roots, combined with observing a spike in antisemitism in the UK, prompted him to reconsider where his future lay.
“He hadn’t been to Israel for about 10 years. He realised, this is where I belong [and] he made the move in November 2021… Jake was happy living his life the way it was, it was simple, he was seeking out adventure. He was a massive fan of Israel, he was thriving there and living his best life.”
