Israel Lev was killed when the cable car was built on Mount Hermon • His pregnant wife tells of the traumatic incident and the additional blow that occurred a year later

• Illustrative image (The photographers have no connection to the article) // Photo: Eyal Margolin - Ginny

Every year, tens of thousands of travelers come to Hermon. They have fun in the snow, throwing balls at each other, and descending the slope in ski skis. They then take the cable car back to the upper level. They are unaware of the monument in the room next door and the story behind it - the forgotten tragedy of Mount Hermon.

"It's a little sad for me to read stories about the Hermon and no one mentions that there was a soldier killed," she says with a cheerful heart. Following the article in Israel Today on a visit to a snowmobile, on the highest peak of Mount Hermon, she contacted us and told the story of Israel Lev, her husband, who was killed in tragic circumstances during the construction of the previous cable car, which was replaced with the new one a few months ago. Quite creepily, the publication of the article in "Israel Today" occurred just days before his memorial service at Mount Herzl Cemetery in Jerusalem.

Israel Lev was born in Jerusalem in 1950 to a couple of Holocaust survivors. After studying technical camps at Haifa Technical School, he enlisted in the IDF, was posted to the Engineering Corps and worked on building bridges and dismantling mines. At the same time, he also knew Aliza, and married her three years later. Two sons have two sons - Yaniv and Eti.

After being released from the IDF, he studied fine mechanics and milling, and worked for a short period in the Middle East. A short time later he decided to work in banking and was accepted to work at Bank Leumi. After an active reserve service during the Yom Kippur War, he moved to the Bank of Israel, in the Archives Department. Israel rose on the ranks and positions and was appointed Deputy Director of the Emergency Department. In 1979 he was crowned an outstanding employee of the bank.

In the winter of 1984 he went on reserve in Hermon, and then the tragedy also happened. "I was pregnant with our little son," Aliza recalls. It was February first and the weather was harsh. "I remember it was a very rainy night."

At the same time, an Austrian company built the cable car, among other things for military needs, and Israel, along with other soldiers, helped build it. "They were standing in some room and had to hold the cable, which did not come off the tracks." But something happened, and the cable came loose. "It broke apart something like 1,800 from him, and the cable hit him. He apparently hit him right in the heart, killing him instead." Aliza, six months pregnant, was at their home in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem when she received the message. After his death, the son, named Chen Israel, was born after the name of his father who was killed.

A commemorative plaque in memory of Israel Lev. // Photo: Yizkor website

One year and ten days after Israel's death, the family experienced another tragedy. "Israel's brother, Moshe, got married. Their mother came out of the wedding and said 'Now I can die.' The next day she died," says Aliza.