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August 14, 2006
25 soldiers killed in Lebanon
ETGAR LEFKOVITS
St.-Sgt. Adam Goren, 21, of Kibbutz Ma’abarot.
"This is a real and frightening war but we have no choice, we have to do the work," were the parting words Goren left his parents with in what would be their last conversation before he returned to the front lines in Lebanon last week.
An avid film and sports lover, Goren missed watching the World Cup because he was serving in Kalkilya at the time.
He was due to complete his military service in November, and was already planning his post-army trip abroad. He is survived by his parents and two siblings.
Sgt. Alexander Bonimovitch, 19, of Netanya.
Bonimovitch always dreamed of becoming an officer, and he was hoping to start an officer’s training course after the war.
One month ago, he finished his tank course with a certificate of excellence.
’Perfect’ is how a close friend described him.
He is survived by his parents and a brother.
Sgt. Yonatan Ankonina, 21, of Netanya.
"You have nothing to worry about I will be fine," Ankonina wrote in an SMS text message to his parents on Friday before Shabbat started.
At 4 p.m. on Saturday he was killed in Lebanon.
Ankonina, who was in his third year of studies at the Karnei Shomron Yeshiva and who was in the army through the hesder yeshiva program, had been due to go back to his yeshiva but was still serving in the army due to the war.
He is survived by his parents and three siblings.
Sgt. Dan Breur, 19, of Beit Hillel.
A tank commander, Breur enlisted in the army just one year ago. His family moved to the Galilee seven years ago, and he grew up in nature, which he loved.
He is survived by his parents and two siblings.
Sgt. Haran Lev, 20, of Kibbutz Ma’ayan Baruch.
Lev, who was just two months shy of his 21st birthday had asked his parents for a camera so he could take pictures with his comrades in arms.
"Then we will circle the dead ones," he had said in black humor.
Lev, who lived on a kibbutz just along the northern border, very much wanted to fight in Lebanon and was angry that his unit had previously been posted in the West Bank.
His younger brother was supposed to hold his bar-mitzva service last week, but it was postponed until his older brother returned after the war.
Lev is survived by his parents and brother.
Maj. (res.) Nissan Shalev, 36, of Kibbutz Evron.
A third-generation kibbutz resident, Shalev was the co-pilot of the helicopter shot down in Lebanon.
His grandparents were among the founders of the kibbutz, which had been hit with scores of Katyushas during the war.
After completing his military service, he studied engineering and worked as a police pilot.
Recently, he began living in Tel Aviv but was thinking about returning to the kibbutz.
He is survived by his parents and four siblings.
Cpl. Ya’ar Ben-Giat, 19, of Kibbutz Nahsholim.
The last time Ben-Giat called home, he told his parents to be sure to watch a Channel 2 news show that contained a segment about his Nahal infantry unit.
The program, which included an interview with him, would be his last remaining image.
Ben-Giat, who was killed Saturday in Lebanon, was buried Sunday on his kibbutz.
He is survived by his parents and two teenage siblings.
Sgt. Yossi Abitbol, 20, of Gan Ner.
Abitbol was lightly wounded in the first week of fighting against Hizbullah but insisted on returning to his Golani unit on the front lines in Lebanon.
He told his parents that he was going for R&R, when in fact he was actually returning to the front.
The oldest of seven siblings, he studied at Kfar Hassidim Yeshiva before enlisting in the IDF.
Abitbol, who is survived by his parents and six younger brothers, was buried Sunday in the Afula military cemetery.
St.-Sgt.Tzahi Krips, 20, of Kibbutz Hama’apil.
Krips, who enlisted in the IDF two years ago, served as a medic in the Nahal brigade.
His older sister, Romi, recounted that she always wanted to find a husband like him: smart, handsome, and jovial.
Krips, who is survived by his parents and two sisters, was buried Sunday in his kibbutz cemetery.
St.-Sgt. Itai Steinberger, 21, of Karmei Yosef.
Steinberger, who served in an elite infantry unit, was just three months shy of completing his compulsory IDF service when he was killed in Lebanon.
His younger brother Yonatan just completed his basic training in the paratrooper’s elite reconnaissance unit.
In one of their last conversations, Steinberger told his younger brother how he had not taken off his army boots for two weeks, but that he would soon be walking barefoot for six months in South America.
Sgt. Yaniv Tamerson, 21, of Tzipori.
Tamerson served in the Armored Corps despite back problems which could have gotten him a non-combat army position.
"He very much wanted to serve in a combat unit and did everything to get in," his brother recounted.
He completed a tank commander’s course just three weeks ago, before being sent into Lebanon last week.
A day before he was killed, Tamerson paid his mother a surprise visit on his way to Lebanon after visiting a wounded officer in the hospital.
Tamerson, who is survived by his parents and two brothers, will be buried Monday in his moshav.
Cpl. Tomer Amar, 19, of Julis.
Amar, of the Druse village of Julis in the Galilee, was on sick leave due to a recent shoulder injury, but insisted on rejoining his comrades who were fighting on the front in Lebanon.
He was killed Saturday when an IDF tank ran him and another soldier over by mistake, crushing them to death.
His father had already built him a home next to his in their village. Amar is survived by his parents and three siblings.
Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Aharon Yehezkel, 32, of Kfar Yedidya.
A non-commissioned officer, Yehezkel was not required to fight in Lebanon, but chose to do so on his own initiative. He was killed Saturday in a shoot-out with Hizbullah fighters.
Yehezkel, who was a farmer on his moshav, was described by his friends as "the salt of the earth" who was very attached to the land.
He had just gotten divorced a month ago, and had wanted to start a new life. He was buried Sunday in his moshav.
Capt. Shai Bernstein, 24, of Beersheba.
Just minutes before entering his tank last Friday, Armored Corps officer Shai Bernstein called his mother’s house in Beersheba.
"Calm mom down, tell her I’m doing fine," he asked his brother, Guy. The next day, the family was informed of his death.
Bernstein, who was born on the second day of the 1982 Lebanon War, was known to be devoted to his troops.
He had recently told his girlfriend that he wanted to marry her. He is survived by his parents, and three siblings.
St.-Sgt. Amsa (Ami) Meshulami, 20, of Ofra.
Meshulami and his family were evicted last year from their homes in Gaza during disengagement, and had resettled in the West Bank settlement of Ofra.
His wife is pregnant with their first child.
The twelfth child among eight boys and nine girls, Meshulami’s family was well-known in the former Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip for their love of the Land.
"When we spoke to him about the current conflict, he didn’t express fear of death or injury and said that he was ready for this fight," his father recounted.
He is survived by his parents and 16 siblings.
Cpl. Yigal Nissan, 19, of Ma’aleh Adumim.
Nissan was inducted into the IDF only nine months ago, and served in the Armored Corps.
He spoke to his parents on Wednesday for the last time.
"Don’t worry, people don’t die in tanks," he assured them.
Nissan is survived by his parents, and four siblings.
Sgt. Yoan Zarbiv, 22, of Tel Aviv.
An ardent Zionist, Zarbiv immigrated to Israel from France three years ago on his own on a Jewish Agency youth program, and lived in Tel Aviv with a cousin.
He began studying at Bar-Ilan University, but decided to enlist in the IDF, where he served in the Nahal brigade.
Zarbiv’s parents received the news of his death in Paris, and were making their way to Israel on Sunday.
Capt. Benaya Rein, 27, from Karnei Shomron.
A captain in the Armored Corps, Rein has served in the military for the last eight years.
When he first enlisted in the army, his mother could not stop crying at the recruitment center.
"On the one hand, I was happy and on the other hand I knew he is willing to give up everything," his mother, Hagit, recounted.
He is survived by his parents and seven siblings.
Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Keren Tendler, 26, of Rehovot.
The first female soldier killed in action in the war in Lebanon, Tendler was killed Saturday along with four other soldiers when the transport helicopter they were riding in was shot down by Hizbullah fighters near the Lebanese village of Yater.
A technician by training, Tendler was doing her reserve service when she was killed.
Together with the other four members of the crew, Tendler was listed by the military as missing and presumed dead until their bodies can be retrieved.
She is survived by her parents and a younger brother.
Warr.-Ofc. (res.) Ron Mashiah, 33, of Gedera.
Mashiah, who was killed in the transport helicopter crash, leaves behind a wife, Sivan, who is six-months pregnant with their first child. The couple met in the air force, and his wife knew the whole crew of five that was killed with her husband.
"The last time we spoke, he only said he was glad to go out on missions," his brother Dov recalled.
He is survived by his wife, parents and two older brothers.
Capt. Daniel Gomez, 25, of Nehalim
A day before he was killed, Gomez, one of two helicopter pilots, bought his six month-pregnant wife the piano she had always wanted.
A childhood friends recounted that Gomez, who studied at the pre-military academy in Atzmona, always dreamed of being a pilot and loved his service in the air force.
When asked if he was afraid, Gomez had said that he was more worried about the soldiers fighting on the ground. He is survived by his wife, parents and four siblings.
St.-Sgt. Oz Zemah, 20, of Maccabim-Reut.
St.-Sgt. Ido Grabovsky, 20, of Rosh Ha’ayin.
Maj. (res.) Sami Ben-Na’im, 39, of Rehovot.
St.-Sgt. Uri Grossman, 20, of Mevaseret Zion
In Memoriam
- St.-Sgt. Adam Goren, 21
- Sgt. Alexander Bonimovitch, 19
- Sgt. Yonatan Ankonina, 21
- Sgt. Dan Breuer, 19
- Sgt. Haran Lev, 20
- Maj. (res.) Nissan Shalev, 36
- Cpl. Ya’ar Ben-Giat, 19
- Sgt. Yossef Abitbol, 20
- St.-Sgt.Tzahi Krips, 20
- St.-Sgt. Itai Steinberger, 21
- Sgt. Yaniv Tamerson, 21
- Cpl. Tomer Amar, 19
- Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Aharon Yehezkel, 32
- Capt. Shai Bernstein, 24
- St.-Sgt. Amsa (Ami) Meshulami, 20
- Cpl. Yigal Nissan, 19
- Sgt. Yoan Zarbiv, 22
- Capt. Benaya Rein, 27
- Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Keren Tendler, 26
- Warr.-Ofc. (res.) Ron Mashiah, 33
- Capt. Daniel Gomez, 25
- St.-Sgt. Oz Zemah, 20
- St.-Sgt. Ido Grabovsky, 20
- Maj. (res.) Sami Ben-Na’im, 39
- St.-Sgt. Uri Grossman, 20
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