Posted on 07/14/2006 8:49:05 AM PDT by epow
The stories behind the faces
By TOVAH LAZAROFF, HILARY LEILA KRIEGER AND JPOST.COM STAFF
Yaniv Bar-On
As a child, Yaniv Bar-On could recite by heart information on all of Israel's wars. On Wednesday he became a casualty of one.
Yaniv's father Asher immigrated from South Africa and his mother came from Canada. The couple then met, fell in love, married and raised their three children.
Yaniv came from a family of devoted Zionists, and would not even hear of skipping the army and leaving the country to live a different life abroad, according to his neighbor, Yaakov Schlissel.
Yaniv, 20, from Maccabim, was a St.-Sgt. in the Armored Corps. He is survived by his siblings, Eitan, 23, and Hadas, 18. The funeral is set for Sunday at 5 p.m. in Modi'in.
Eyal Benin
22-year-old Sgt.-Maj. Eyal Benin, who was called up for reserve duty three weeks ago, should have moved this summer to Jerusalem to study law at the Hebrew University.
Eyal's mother was originally reluctant to let him join a combat unit. "She didn't want to let him join, but she understood that it was his dream," said one of his friends, but Eyal was determined to stay with a group of close friends who were all going to be combat soldiers.
But the dream and determination were shattered on Wednesday, as Eyal was torn from them in the Hizbullah attack.
He was laid to rest on Thursday in the Kiryat Shmuel military cemetery.
Alexei Kushnirski
St.-Sgt. Alexei Kushnirski, 21 of Ness Ziona, was the commander of the tank that was destroyed just over the Lebanese border Wednesday.
His fianc e, Shir Avinoam, said she spoke to him on his cellular phone at 9:03 a.m. Wednesday, minutes before his tank triggered a large explosive device. He told her there was heavy shelling in the area and that he loved her.
He was supposed to transfer to an administrative position next Sunday, and was scheduled to complete his army service in November.
Alexei is survived by his parents, Iliya and Marina, and a younger sister, Alona. His funeral is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Friday at the Kibbutz Na'an cemetery.
Gadi Musayev
Dozens of neighbors, friends, and relatives came on Wednesday to the home of the Musayev family in Acre upon hearing the news that their son Gadi, serving in an Armored Corps unit, was missing along with his friends in southern Lebanon.
Gadi, an electronics major in Ort Dreski high school in Acre, played for four years with the youth division of Hapoel Acre. "Gadi was the team's basketball king," recalled teacher Ilan Frohman, "a quiet and intelligent boy who loved basketball and couldn't wait to go into the army."
Gadi is survived by his parents, Eliezer and Rosa, and his sister Vicki, 22, who recently finished combat duty in Gaza. His funeral will take place at 2:45 p.m. on Friday at the Nahariya military cemetery.
Wasim Nazal
The army representatives who came to the home of St.-Sgt. Maj. Wasim Nazal, 27, on Wednesday still gave his family a little hope.
"Wasim was kidnapped by Hizbullah," IDF representatives told the family. "The working assumption is that he's still alive."
Only after several long hours did the mistake become clear: Wasim was killed during the battle with Hizbullah, and the nerve-wracking drama ended in tragedy.
Wasim served as an ambulance driver for part of his eight-year IDF service. He was laid to rest in his home village of Yanuh-Jat on Thursday. He leaves behind a two-year-old son.
Shani Turgeman
The middle child of parents who immigrated from Morocco in the 1960s, Sgt.-Maj. Shani Turgeman, 24, showed an interest in graphic art as a teen and worked for a local newspaper. He had begun studying the subject at Sivan college following his return four months ago from a post-army trip to South America.
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Instead of welcoming him back from reserve duty, his family spent the day in their Beit She'an home struggling to deal with the sudden loss.
Shani is survived by his parents Albert and Marcel, his brother Haim and his younger sister Einav.
Shani was buried on Thursday evening in the Beit She'an military cemetery.
Shlomi Yermiyahu
St.-Sgt. Shlomi Yermiyahu, from Rishon Lezion, was killed only a week after his 20th birthday; he was the oldest of three children. His parents, Dovid and Ruti, heard early in the morning that their son was in the tank that was hit, but weren't sure what had happened to him.
After nearly a day of waiting for news, they were informed Wednesday evening that all occupants of the tank were killed in the Hizbullah attack.
Shlomi served for two years in the IDF's Armored Corps. His aunt described him as "a sweetheart of a boy. He truly loved the army and enjoyed his service."
Shlomi will be laid to rest at 3:15 p.m. on Friday in the Rishon Lezion military cemetery
We are also losing men to Islamic terrorism almost every day, and it hurts even though our losses are small compared to 300 million Americans. Israel with a population of around 7 million has already lost proportionately as many men or more in this latest action as we lose in a few months, and I'm sure their loss hurts the Israeli people as much as our losses hurt us.
We are both facing a cruel enemy who revels in killing and torturing anyone who refuses to knuckle under to their barbaric religion and their 7th century state of mind. If we and our Israelis allies do not conquer and destroy this implacable enemy's military forces once and or all they will be a plague on the civilized world until someone else does conquer them. The jihadists have to be made to understand that the civilized nations of the world simply will not bow down and accept their fanatical, vicious, barbaric ideology and way of life even if it means killing every single one of them.
This is as good a time for that as any IMHO. An all-out joint operation by the US and Israel could take care of that business in short order and with relatively few casualties compared to how many we will suffer by putting off the inevitable until they acquire nuclear weapons. Call me naive and simplistic if you want, but I would back that course of action 100% if our leaders had the will to do it.
Though over there in Israel, these people share the very same values we have here in the USA. They or their ancestors immigrated from places where we American come from, but their "grandparents" just happen to go elsewhere. They are probably related to some of us Americans. Same material, religious and moral values. They are US but they elsewhere, they probably even speak English, and lived in a Democratic Country. They had our desire for freedom.
In our internet, global media world, things are much closer, these people are a phone call away, an im away, an email away, and a several hour jet plane ride away. These are not just people "over there", "foreigners" in another land. They are sort of kin to us American folks.
May they and all our American soldiers who died for freedom and democracy and to rid the world from terrorists rest in peace...shalom.
bump
I often wondered what type of person the Israelis soldiers KIA were. All we hear is just the number that died. Thanks! May they rest in peace. Their fight is over. God bless their families.
That's kinda the way I feel about them. I guess it must be the same basic moral and religious values we have in common that bonds us together in a sense.
What puzzles me is why the American Jewish community as a whole is probably the most liberal and Democrat segment of the voting population. If it were left to the liberals in Congress the US would abandon Israel and support the poor wittle Pallies, who after all are just victims of Bush's and Rumsfield's aggressive war-for-oil policy that is oppressing the downtrodden Islamic masses.
Amen to that sentiment. Jewish families seem to be very closely knit, at least the ones I know are. It seems a shame that so many fine young men from our two nations are having to die just because of the barbaric religious beliefs of Islam.
bump for prime time Freepers
Prayers for the fallen youth and f___ Mohammed and his pagan cult
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