Obituaries - a peace activist, the frontwoman of a heavy metal band, and a World Cup footballer

For decades, he was a symbol of the Israeli peace camp and easily recognised by his thick white beard and white hair.

A member of Israel's founding generation, he fought in its war of independence before becoming a publisher, member of parliament, author and activist.

In the 1982 Lebanon War, he sneaked into besieged Beirut to talk to Israel's then-nemesis, PLO chairman Yasser Arafat. He also challenged successive Israeli governments in arguing that a Palestinian state was the only way to secure peace for a democratic Israel with a Jewish majority.

“I feel we are on the Titanic, sailing straight toward an iceberg,” he once said. “We have the chance to change the course any moment, but if we are stupid, if we go on sailing, we shall meet the iceberg, inevitably.”

Born into a wealthy family in Germany, Avnery grew up poor in Tel Aviv after he and his parents fled following the rise of the Nazis in 1933. As a 10-year-old immigrant, he eagerly embraced Hebrew language and culture but remained fluent in German and acknowledged being shaped by the humanist traditions of pre-Nazi Germany.

As a journalist, he shook the establishment with his tabloid weekly, Haolam Hazeh, or “This World” — a mix of hard-hitting exposes, gossip and photos of nude women.

A generation of aggressive Israeli journalists trained under his tutelage, even as his politics mostly kept him on the fringes of Israeli society. His stances, far outside the mainstream, won him several international awards but plenty of scorn at home where he was relentlessly attacked, sometimes even physically.

After his newspaper folded following a 40-year run, Avnery founded Gush Shalom, or “Peace Bloc,” a group of several hundred activists who stage street protests, often side by side with Palestinian activists. He remained a strong supporter of Arafat long after most of Israel gave up on him as a peace partner following the eruption of Palestinian violence in the early 2000s.

THE singer Jill Janus, who has died aged 43, was the frontwoman of the heavy metal band Huntress.

Janus had long struggled with mental illness, and killed herself outside Portland, Oregon, according to a statement from her relatives and bandmates.

Janus fronted Huntress from the group's inception in Los Angeles in 2009, singing on three full-length albums and on tours with bands including Motorhead and Lamb Of God.

Founding member Blake Meahl said that he and Janus "spent nine years together creating a home, having a family and building our passion project Huntress. The devastation of knowing I will never see her again is the most gutting emotion I have ever experienced."

The band's sound was classic thrash-inflected metal, with Janus, one of the few female vocalists in the genre, featuring on songs such as Spell Eater, Eight Of Swords, and Sorrow.

She also sang in an all-female metal band known as The Starbreakers on the side.

Janus had been an advocate for mental health and encouraged fans who were suffering to seek help. Her struggles with bi-polar disorder nearly brought an end to the band in 2018, but they returned for another album and more touring.

THE footballer Jimmy McIlroy, who has died aged 86, was a former Burnley player Jimmy McIlroy widely regarded as one of their best-ever players. He also won 55 caps for Northern Ireland, whom he helped reach the World Cup finals in 1958.

The inside forward was a mainstay of the team which won the First Division title in 1960 and reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup the following season.

McIlroy made 497 appearances for the club and scored 131 goals during a 13-year spell at Turf Moor.

McIlroy joined Burnley from Glentoran in 1950 and quickly became a mainstay of the side which never finished outside the top seven between 1956 and 1963.

The club's fans were devastated when he left to join Stoke in 1963, and he ended his playing days at Oldham before brief spells as manager of the Latics and Bolton.