Israeli transgender woman dies in London, friends working to bring her home

An Israeli transgender woman was found dead in her hotel room in London last week, with her friends and activists working to bring her body back to Israel, N12 reported on Monday.

The woman, from Tel Aviv, is suspected to have died due to drug use and her body has been taken by British authorities for an autopsy. She did not have a support system from her family.

Since her death, her friends and trans rights activists from the Trans Israel organization have been working to bring her body home. The Trans Israeli organization contacted the Israeli consulate in the city, but the organization's director-general, Linor Abergil, told N12 that they were left without a response since they are not the woman's immediate family.

With the help of deputy Tel Aviv mayor Chen Arieli, the organization managed to raise the funds needed to bring the woman's body back to Israel. The organization is now waiting for a judge to approve a CT scan of the woman's body after which she will be returned to Israel.

'It's sad to find out that we have to be activists even in our death.'

"The state abandons the trans community even outside its borders," Tel Aviv Deputy Mayor Chen Arieli told N12.

"It is unthinkable that even in our death, the members of the community pay a heavy price for discrimination and oppression. In many cases, as in this case, our family support structure is the community itself, and here too we worked together to help return her to Israel, her country and where she lived her life. We have a communal responsibility towards each other and as LGBTQ people we are born activists. It's sad to find out that we have to be activists even in our death."

Abergil added, "It is ridiculous that the State of Israel takes responsibility for people who are in prison in foreign countries because it is political but refuses to return the body of a Jewish Israeli or to help poor families who cannot bring their loved ones for burial."

"I sent a message to Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, but he did not bother to answer. Fortunately for us, with the help of Chen Arieli and with the help of the emergency budget of the organization, we all agreed to pay for bringing the body to her final resting place."

The Foreign Ministry responded by stating that it received a message about the woman's death last Wednesday. The ministry added that the department for Israelis abroad worked with the Israeli consulate in London to verify the information and inform the family. The ministry noted to the family that the authorities had requested an autopsy due to the sensitivity of the case and that this could delay the process of bringing the coffin back to Israel.