Defense Minister Ganz and Chief of Staff Kochavi are expected to approve the award, including to local authorities on the line of confrontation and to hospitals in the north. • The award will also be given to the SLA
Defense Minister Bnei Gantz visiting Division 91 near the Lebanese border
Photo:
Gil Eliyahu, Ginny
Defense Minister Bnei Gantz and Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi are expected to approve the awarding of the battle signal for fighting in the security strip to bodies and organizations that operated during the clashes in southern Lebanon, Israel Today has learned.
It appears that the award will also be given to local authorities on the line of confrontation, as well as to organizations operating at the front, including Ziv Hospital in Safed, Nahariya Hospital, Poria Hospital in Tiberias, Rambam Hospital in Haifa and the front emergency room in Kiryat Shmona. The localities and bodies that will be recognized will receive certificates with the same wording as the military version. The SLA will also receive a letter.
It appears that it was decided that civilian IDF workers who worked in Lebanon would also receive certificates of appreciation in accordance with the Law of Recognition of Citizens in the Israeli Systems, as well as SLA members who fought Nablus to Nablus with IDF fighters.
In early March, the Israeli government approved Defense Minister Ganz's proposal to award the battle signal to IDF soldiers and SLA members who fought in the security zone from September 1982 to May 2000. The decision to award the battle signal was made after a lengthy process of examination and approvals. Recently, Ganz and Chief of Staff Kochavi agreed to establish a public committee headed by former Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz.
The committee examined the possibility of awarding the signal to the servants during the Lebanese period and recommended it.
In November 2020, the Minister of Defense accepted the recommendation of the committee and the Chief of Staff to award the battle signal to soldiers who fought in Lebanon and a discount on promoting the award to the SLA members, since separate legislation was required to grant the law to SLA members. After political drama, the law was finally approved.
The defense establishment is preparing to award the signal on May 24, when it will be exactly 21 years since the IDF left Lebanon.
According to the plan, the signal will be presented at a ceremony to be held in the presence of commanders and fighters who fought in the security zone.
The budget for the purchase of the signals for distribution in the various ceremonies is about NIS 10 million from the budget of the Ministry of Defense.
