"Do you think or do you know that it was a coincidence that the investigator spoke to you here and elsewhere about the trains?" Asked Adv. Ben-Zur, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's defense attorney, Nir Hefetz. It was a blatant allusion to what happened many years ago, Hefetz was still a cadet in one BAD, and was involved in a very horrific incident, in which his navigation buddy was killed as a result of a train hit.
To this day many question marks remain as to what happened that night.
In September 1984, Hefetz was a cadet in the 1st Battalion as part of his service in the Intelligence Corps, and like any other cadet, he went out for night navigation with another cadet - Ronen Yellin. The two navigated in the Tel Shoket area in the Negev,
Eight minutes before midnight, a 32-car freight train raced on the tracks, hitting and completely crushing Yellin's body that was on the tracks.
A News 10 investigation published in 2018 cited the testimony of Hefetz, who said in an interrogation by the MPC that he had fallen asleep about half an hour earlier when Ronen was by his side. , Told Matzach.
Nir Hefetz in the Jerusalem district, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
For an unknown reason, Ronen Yellin allegedly lay on the tracks and was run over to death.
But in a News 10 investigation, question marks arose around the allegations that Shilin left the place where he was sitting with an object and went up to lie on the tracks.
The investigation report revealed that the rifle cartridge was not found in Yellin's weapon, and in addition his rifle and personal vest were found at a great distance from the body.
Despite what happened, including the ban on falling asleep during a navigation mission, Hefetz continued his training as an officer, and eventually completed his military service as a major.
In 1987, according to a Channel 10 investigation, a rumor reached the MPC that the cadet allegedly died from a bullet from an object and an investigation was opened against him on suspicion of causing death by negligence. As a result of the new information, questions arose as to whether An object was examined by a polygraph and found to be telling the truth, and it was determined that he was innocent.
"Yellin was the outstanding student of the course. He and Hefetz returned from a long vacation so that they were not exhausted or tired," Major (Res.) Yaron Peretz, the two commander, told News 10. "The train was on a 7-meter high battery. "An explicit instruction was given not to go up to the track, Yellin was the outstanding student of the course and it did not make sense to violate orders given, in addition the point of the accident was hundreds of meters from the end of the navigation, and it is not clear why they had to go to sleep."
The late Ronen Yellin, Photo: From the Yizkor website
To this day it is not clear what exactly happened that night, and how Yellin found himself on the tracks.
"We were taken off the hike in the morning and told that Ronen was killed at night. Total shock, to this day it is not clear to me what happened there," said one of his friends.
His family claims that there is no chance that he committed suicide and his commanders told him that he very much aspired to finish school for officers.
"He had a strong desire to be an officer and he spared no effort to achieve his goal," the then commander of the officers' school wrote of his family.
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