Israel Matzav: Another dead IDF soldier hero whose widow and orphans live in 'illegal' neighborhood

Another dead IDF soldier hero whose widow and orphans live in 'illegal' neighborhood

I've talked several times about the widow and orphans of Roi Klein HY"D (may God avenge his blood), whose home in the Givat HaYovel neighborhood of the Samarian town of Eli stands to be destroyed by Supreme Court order in May unless the government legalizes the neighborhood. On Friday night, two more IDF soldiers were killed in a firefight with Hamas terrorists near the Gaza border fence. One of them, Eliraz Peretz HY"D lived in the same Givat HaYovel neighborhood as the Kleins. Let's start with the battle story:

On Friday evening, Maj. Eliraz Peretz, 31, from Eli, deputy commander of the Golani Brigade’s 12th Battalion, and St.-Sgt. Maj. Ilan Sviatkovsky from Rishon Lezion were killed during combat with Palestinian gunmen in the southern Gaza Strip, near Khan Yunis.

Peretz led a force into Gaza after two Palestinians were spotted laying improvised explosive devices near the border security fence. During the ensuing fire exchange, a grenade in Peretz’s vest was hit by a bullet and exploded, killing him and wounding two of his soldiers. Sviatkovsky was then shot and killed as well.

Both of the Palestinian gunmen were killed.

Two hours later, a tank unit spotted another two Palestinians placing bombs along the border, and killed them.

This is not the first time the Peretz family has paid the ultimate price: A brother was killed by an IED in Lebanon in 1998.

They were also expelled from their home in Sinai in 1982.

The fact that Peretz and Klein were neighbors speaks volumes about who the IDF combat officers corps is these days. At one time, the vast majority of the officers corps came from Kibbutzim. That is no longer the case. Most of the combat officers corps today, especially in the elite units, comes from the religious Zionist community. If they are ever given an order - God forbid - to dismantle Jewish houses in Judea and Samaria, no one really knows what will happen. But I would bet on soldiers being far less complacent about it than they were five years ago.

Israel Matzav: Another dead IDF soldier hero whose widow and orphans live in 'illegal' neighborhood