Court Rules Partner of Slain Nova Festival Victim Is Common-Law Spouse
The Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court recognized Karin Giz as the common-law spouse of Shachar Ben Naim, killed at the Nova festival, overturning a Bituach Leumi decision. The court ruled that despite turbulence and a temporary crisis, they met the legal criteria.
The Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court has ruled in favor of Karin Giz, recognizing her as the common-law spouse of Shachar Ben Naim, who was murdered at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023. The decision overturns a January 2024 ruling by the National Insurance Institute (Bituach Leumi) that had stripped her of this status, which entitles her to benefits under the Hostile Student and Terror Victims Rewards Law.
The couple met in December 2022 at a horse ranch owned by Ben Naim and became romantic partners in March 2023. They initially lived together in Tel Aviv before moving to an apartment in Azor. Due to her advanced pregnancy, Giz temporarily stayed with her mother, and the couple looked for a new apartment together in September to accommodate their expected child. Their relationship, however, was marked by turbulence and a temporary rift in the final days before Ben Naim's death.
Court Analysis of Relationship Dynamics
Presiding Judge Tomer Silora evaluated the relationship based on the couple's actual lifestyle rather than an idealized standard. The court noted that Ben Naim was characterized by family members as a "Don Juan," while Giz was described as highly emotional, with records showing a fierce argument during which she wished him a painful death. Nevertheless, the court emphasized that it was not there to judge their personal behavior, but to determine whether they met the legal threshold of common-law spouses.
«We are not here to judge Shachar or the plaintiff. We must only decide whether the romantic relationship between them was such that it entitles the plaintiff to compensation as the widow of a terror victim.»
Addressing the National Insurance Institute's arguments—which included the absence of a joint bank account, separate finances, and Ben Naim's flirtations with other women prior to the festival—the court ruled that financial equality is not a prerequisite for common-law status, noting that their shared household operated in a modern manner with shared expenses.
Overcoming the October Crisis
The National Insurance Institute contended that the couple had broken up and that Ben Naim spent his final weeks pursuing other relationships, including asking for a woman's phone number during the Nova festival on the night of October 6. However, the court found that the friction constituted a temporary crisis rather than a permanent separation, reinforced by text messages from early October in which Ben Naim acknowledged the child she was carrying.
Concluding that Giz managed to establish her status "if only by a narrow margin," the court determined that she is entitled to the benefit of the doubt under the humanitarian purpose of the hostile acts compensation legislation, thereby ordering the National Insurance Institute to recognize her rights.
