The late Lt. Col. Emanuel Moreno, a General Staff Reconnaissance Fighter who fell in Lebanon, was one of the IDF's greatest fighters.

• Family members and friends at a memorial service for the late Emanuel on Mount Herzl

  Photo: 

  Miriam Tzachi, Archive

Her father Moreno, the daughter of the late Lt. Col. Emanuel Moreno, a General Staff patrol officer killed in the Second Lebanon War, is expected to enlist in the IDF this October - and is closing the circle.

Her father was only 5 years old when she lost her father in a secret operation in Baalbek, deep in Lebanon. Emanuel Moreno enlisted in the General Staff Reconnaissance Regiment in 1990 after studying at the Bnei David Pre-Military Preparatory School.

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He led dozens of covert operations, including the abduction of Mustafa Dirani from his home in Lebanon and the rescue of taxi driver Eliyahu Goral. On August 19, 2006, after the ceasefire in the Second Lebanon War, Moreno led fighters in foreign operations wearing Lebanese military uniforms in the Baalbek area, according to foreign publications. When the force made its way back he encountered an ambush by Hezbollah and Emanuel was killed. In an unusual move, and for the first time in the history of the IDF, it was forbidden to publish his picture even after his death due to a sensitive role he held. 

Her father is his eldest daughter. Last year she paid tribute to him at a memorial service at the Mount Herzl Cemetery in Jerusalem: "Mother once painted a painting, a kind of tree whose root is attached to the ground and its head in the sky," she said. “For me this painting symbolizes the circle of life I can move on. 

"Feel the hug"

"I think bereavement allows us to connect to the unknown world, to one day reach and be there ourselves, a connection that can happen at any moment," she added.

A rare recording of Moreno unveiled in 2019 // Photo: Courtesy of Channel 20

 "And when I want to connect to that pipe, and to Dad, I close my eyes, clear my head and just let go. Let the flow of energy pass through me, feel the hug, the demand for peace - not in the heavens but within me. You don't have to look at the sky and look for Dad. You have to look inside." . 

She previously told about Emanuel in the book "Our Heroes - 70 Characters for 70 Heroes" published by the Ministry of Defense. "When I think of Dad he connects me with a character of Dad that I could grow up with and appreciate and admire as Dad is admired. Someone who knows a lot, who can always be trusted, one who when you are next to him you feel safe. 

"Time will not be wasted, time will be spent talking, laughing, learning and loving. Someone sociable, simple, funny, humble, with clear opinions and connected to reality. Very honest and unassuming, does not try to be big, lives his ideals truly. A man of deeds And less talk. "

"When I think of Dad he connects me with a character of a father who knows a lot, a father you can always trust, one who when you are next to him you feel safe.