Son of former Hopewell Borough resident killed in Israel

Lior Abramov, the son of artist Michal Halev, was murdered in the terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas., Gov. Phil Murphy confirmed on Thursday.
Halev lived on Railroad Avenue in the heart of Hopewell Borough until about two years ago when she and her partner decided to travel around the U.S. in an Airstream. State and local officials identified Abramov as a Hopewell native, but close family friends in Hopewell said said he was born and raised in Israel, and that Halev had moved from Israel to the U.S. after meeting her second husband, Elan Liebner, a Waldorf School teacher.
Abramov, 20, was living in Israel pursuing a career as a disc jockey, following in the footsteps of his father, David Abramov.
Lior was at all-night nature party near Kibbutz Re’im, close to the Gaza Strip, as rockets were fired by Hamas on Saturday morning followed by gunshots that were fired into the crowd as hundreds of partygoers attempted to flee.
His parents believed Lior, also called “Or” was hiding in a shelter. “We received reports that he was found on Kibbutz Be’eri in the morning and there has been no connection with him since,” wrote Halev on Facebook on Sunday. Halev and her husband then traveled to Israel from the U.S.
“My heart aches on the death of our beloved Or Avramov,” wrote his father, David, on Facebook Thursday.
Abramov is one of two people killed in Israel who have had Mercer County connections. Deborah Matias, the daughter of Brandeis University professor Ilan Troen, was killed along with her husband while the two were shielding their 16-year-old son, Rotem. The couple was killed at Holit Kibbutz, where they lived near the border with Gaza. Rotem’s two sisters, who lived in another part of the communal farming settlement, also survived the attack, according to the Washington Post. Troen taught at Princeton University in the 1970s.

Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.