By Doron Kescher
August 13, 2006
Due to the sensitivity of the loss, the soldier's name has not been included in the article.
Every one of the 22,000 smiling young faces on the front cover of Israel's newspapers since 1948 has been an unimaginable tragedy for them, and for the ones they leave behind.
Now, may the Lord comfort my uncle, aunt, and my cousins among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem, who are "left behind".
My cousin, may his memory be a blessing, was killed yesterday in Lebanon, when a hate-filled terrorist fired his Iranian- or Syrian-supplied anti-tank missile at the building in which my cousin's unit was stationed.
If you read the Israeli papers online, you may notice a small paragraph that reads: "A soldier of the Nahal Battalion was killed, five soldiers were seriously wounded and others were lightly wounded in exchanges of fire."
Despite the newspapers' accounts that he was an excellent soldier, my cousin was no soldier. He was a conscript, straight out of high school. He was just like every other Israeli that, on their 18th birthday, gets a draft notice. He didn't want to be a soldier, he wanted to be a doctor. He didn't want to kill -- he wanted to heal.
Yet, like almost all Israelis, when his draft notice came, he not only enlisted (rather than using his American passport to ensure an easier life), but he chose to serve his country and people on the very frontline of battle, in the Nahal Brigade.
In a way, my cousin was just like any other Israeli: he fought to protect others. In his life, he wanted to heal others (which is why he became his unit's medic).
I cannot even summon one billionth of the contempt deserved by the human (I will not call him a man) who killed my cousin. What was he fighting for? Was he protecting others? I don't think even he believed that. He was killing Jews so that his comrades could continue to kill Jews with rockets aimed Israeli towns. As a member of Hizbullah, he knew far better than any of the so-called journalists covering this war that Israel posed no threat to Lebanon, and that Israel goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid Arab civilians casualties. That's why Hizbullah hides behind civilians.
I know it's not the done thing, but I hope my cousin's comrades annihilated the reprobate who killed him, and I beg Hashem, the G-d of Israel and of all that is good, to avenge his blood speedily.
I also beg Israel's political leadership not to let my beloved cousin (or any of those who have already been killed or who undoubtedly will be killed in the coming days), be a soldier killed in the first war that Israel has lost.
My bereaved uncle and aunt, and his devastated grandparents, can say with sad pride that their son and grandson was killed fighting on the side of good against terrorism. Let them also say that in the end, Israel won the war. Before any ceasefire, we must demonstrably smash Hizbullah, return our two captive soldiers from their Lebanese, Syrian or Iranian dungeon (and of course, our boy still held somewhere in Gaza), and bring peace and security to northern Israel (and not coincidentally, Lebanon).
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
