Tel Aviv couple killed in Brussels shooting named as Emanuel and Miriam Riva

Couple in their 50s were among four victims in fatal shooting Saturday at Brussels Jewish Museum.

Police personnel are seen at the site of a shooting in central Brussels, May 24, 2014. (photo credit: REUTERS)
Police personnel are seen at the site of a shooting in central Brussels, May 24, 2014.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Emanuel and Mira Riva of Tel Aviv, aged 54 and 53, were named on Sunday as the two Israelis killed in a shooting attack at the Brussels Jewish Museum that left four people dead on Saturday.
The Rivas had traveled to Brussels on vacation and were only a few days away from returning to Tel Aviv when they were gunned down.
The couple is survived by two teenage daughters, aged 17 and 15.
Josiya Porat, the Rivas’ friend, told reporters outside the family home in Tel Aviv that the two “were people with values who always helped others.
They loved the land of Israel and cared deeply about their girls’ education.”
Miriam Fein, a friend of the family, told Army Radio on Sunday that they “were a lovely couple” and that Emanuel was a “family man and a professional.”
She added that she knew they worked in the “service of the state” but was not sure in what capacity. Other media outlets said he worked as an analyst for the Public Security Ministry.
Their bodies are to be flown back to Israel for burial once Belgian authorities decide whether or not they need to undergo autopsies.