"I did not know he was in Lebanon," said the mother of the late Yoni Sharabi, an armored fighter who fell 15 years ago.
The memorial corner for the late Yonatan Sharabi
Photo:
Joshua Joseph
"I can't open the chimidan, I just can't. I got in the middle of the night, stood over and tried to open, but I can't," says Moshe Sharabi, the father of the late Sergeant Yoni Sharabi of Petah Tikva, a fallen armored fighter In the Second Lebanon War, while pointing to an old military chimidan.
Fill the space: Watch the exciting meeting between Lt. Col. Naaman Heller and the family of the late Yoni Sharabi // Photo: Moshe Ben Simhon, Gil Kramer
A few days before Remembrance Day, I arrived at the Sharabi family home in Petah Tikva as part of the "Fill the Void" project.
As a soldier in the company in which June fell I knew his story well.
I was a few dozen yards away when June was killed, in the doctor's tank.
We heard the 'boom' and the cries on the radio: "Vertex, we have 'haunted' (killed)".
The commander refused to believe: "You mean 'flower' (wounded)."
And the hard answer: "No vertex, haunted."
I was privileged to accompany June on his way to the helicopter.
Drives in the dark of night, and the heart is also dark.
Four crew members including the body of the friend who was killed.
But even 15 years after the war nothing prepared me for the emotional blow.
A few years ago, his parents, Moshe and Yardena, moved from another apartment in the building to the current apartment, and decided to move his room.
His bedding, which has not been washed, is on the bed, on the towel chair he left before he left for the last time, and next to the room is an old chimidan with the inscription "Yoni Sharabi, B. the Rhinos" closed and closed from the day he did not return.
In the last conversation Jordan had with him face to face, less than 12 hours before he left for the northern border, Yoni asked her how she would deal if something happened to him.
"'Listen,' I told him, 'if I get a phone call and they tell me you were at the club and they stabbed you or you drove drunk and got in a tree, I'll look for a tower to jump in. But if it's in the army what can I do. Everything is from heaven.' He hugged and kissed me and told me to leave the room. ".
The next morning he had already entered Lebanon, but did not tell his mother and father this.
Three weeks after the start of the Second Lebanon War, the 46th Battalion, which was in June, entered combat in the eastern sector of southern Lebanon.
On Tisha B'Av (August 3, 2006) the battalion was on a day guard in the area of the town of a-Taibeh.
Yoni, a tank gunner, who was in the turret, managed to tell his teammate Meir Saban to lower a silhouette and then an anti-tank missile hit him. He was killed on the spot. A 20-year-old was in the fall.
"I did not know he was in Lebanon," says Yardena, "I had a hard time towards the end of the fast. Usually I do not fast on Tisha B'Av, but in that fast I decided to fast. It is something that was not perceived. Only when they knocked on the way and said what they said - everything went back to normal. "To this day, I feel Yoni's hug and kiss when I told him he belonged to the army."
"I did not hear anything from him. I was at home, we saw news at ten and suddenly there were knocks on the door," recalls Moshe, who made sure to wear the Israeli flag throughout the interview, when his voice shook.
"My legs seemed to fall apart, I could not get up. I knew that was the good news. June fell. I somehow reached the door, looked in the groove and saw the soldiers. I turned to Jordana and told her 'the boy is gone'."
Despite the great difficulty, Moshe makes it clear that he loves Israel more than ever.
"I am proud of our country, our army, and proud that he fell in battle and not in nonsense as we do not just lose lives. The young people today do not know what they have, what a great country we have. The soldiers are the ones holding me, I do not know where I would be without them today ".
While Moshe and Yardena tell their story, Lt. Col. Naaman Heller sits between them and strengthens them. Heller served in training with Yoni Sharabi, and for the past two years he has served as commander of the 46th Battalion, the battalion where Yoni fought. "We were together, Yoni and I, in training in Nabi Musa and today I Closing a circle as the battalion commander, "says Lt. Col. Heller," We educate the soldiers in the light of June, in light of all the things that characterized him. The company knows Moshe and Yardena. "
Although June's room is full of his equipment, it is not just used as a memorial room.
"The grandchildren work in front of the computer. It's a living room," Jordana explains.