Editing Ofra Haza (section)

==Death==
[[File:The Grave of Ofra Haza.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Ofra Haza's grave in Yarkon Cemetery]]
Ofra Haza died on 23 February 2000, at the age of 42, of [[HIV/AIDS|AIDS]] related complications. While the fact that she was [[HIV]]-[[HIV-positive people|positive]] is now generally known, the decision by the Israeli newspaper ''[[Haaretz]]'' to report it shortly after her death was controversial in Israel.<ref name="sontag">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/29/world/a-pop-diva-a-case-of-aids-and-an-israeli-storm.html?pagewanted=1 |title=A Pop Diva, a Case of AIDS and an Israeli Storm |access-date=23 February 2010 |work=The New York Times |first=Deborah |last=Sontag |date=29 February 2000}}</ref>

After Haza's death was announced, Israeli radio stations played non-stop retrospectives of her music. Then-[[Prime Minister of Israel|Prime Minister]] [[Ehud Barak]] praised her work as a cultural emissary, commenting that she also represented the Israeli success story — "Ofra emerged from the Hatikvah slums to reach the peak of Israeli culture. She has left a mark on us all."

Haza's death from an AIDS-related illness added another layer to the public mourning, bringing the disease into the spotlight. The revelation of Haza's illness caused much surprise among fans, along with debate about whether the media invaded her privacy by reporting it; Haza had hidden the disease even from the Tel Aviv hospital workers who first treated her in an emergency room two weeks prior.<ref name="sontag"/> The managing director of ''[[Haaretz]]'', [[Yoel Esteron]], commented at the time: {{Cquote|quote=There is hardly a house in Israel in which the word AIDS did not get spoken in recent days [...] And in these circumstances to continue not to publish is to publish something that is not true. Ofra Haza was a public figure, and to a certain extent public property in her life. In her death it is impossible to leave this chapter in darkness. We are talking about a human disease like any other, and there is no reason to demonize it.<ref name="sontag"/>|source=}} On the other hand, the Health Minister spokesman Yoram Malca said: {{Cquote|There was a consensus to keep silent, even after her death. I think today ''Haaretz'' broke all the norms and ethical and moral standards that we still have in this country. I think that it's a person's right to guard his privacy. What do we have left in life, or after our deaths, if not that little bit of knowledge that we can live and die with dignity?<ref name="sontag"/>}}

There was also speculation about how she had acquired the virus. Immediately after her death, the media placed blame on her husband, Tel Aviv businessman Doron Ashkenazi, for infecting her with the disease.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/666770.stm |title=Singer's death prompts AIDS debate |access-date=24 February 2010 |date=5 March 2000 |location=London |publisher=BBC News}}</ref> Haza's manager Bezalel Aloni supported this belief, writing in his book that Haza acquired AIDS through sex with her husband.<ref name="haaretz"/> Later, it was revealed that her husband believed Haza became infected because of a blood transfusion she received in a Turkish hospital following a miscarriage. Ashkenazi himself died of a drug overdose roughly one year later on 7 April 2001, leaving a daughter from a prior marriage and a 14-year-old adopted son, Shai Ashkenazi.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/dec/09/ofra-haza-madonna-of-the-dark-soul |title=Ofra Haza: Madonna of the dark soul |access-date=15 December 2010 |date=9 December 2010 |location=London |work=The Guardian}}</ref>

Doctors who treated AIDS patients were reportedly "horrified" after learning of Haza's decision to hide her illness. Dr. Zvi Bentwich, head of the AIDS Center at the [[Kaplan Medical Center]] in Rehovot, commented: {{Cquote|It brings us back to the beginning of the epidemic with the near-demonization and stigmatization of a disease that actually we are dealing with much better. [...] And in this unfortunate case, without having all the details, it appears that Ofra Haza almost died of the embarrassment, from the terrible fear to reveal her illness.<ref name="sontag"/>|}}
Haza is buried in the Artists section of [[Yarkon Cemetery]] in [[Petah Tikva]].