Elhanan Kalmansohn, a 43-year-old resident of Otniel who fell Sunday morning near the Gaza Strip while rescuing civilians, is a terrorist. As the son of Rabbi Benny Clemenson, Rosh Yeshiva Otniel, he was exposed to the horrific attack at the yeshiva in 2001, and his uncle was murdered in a shooting attack by a freed man in the Gilad Shalit deal. When the fighting broke out unexpectedly in the Gaza envelope yesterday, he did not hesitate and hurried with his brother, Menahem, and their nephew's son to travel in a private car in order to save lives.
Elchanan Clemenson. Murdered while rescuing civilians in the envelope,
The second day of the attack on the Gaza Strip: the extent of the horror in the street is exposed // Photo: Shmuel Buchris
"I am in the home of my son, Elchanan Hashem, who was murdered a few hours ago, looking at the Declaration of Independence that hangs here on the wall," says Rabbi Clemenson. "The scroll does not depend here because he opposed the reform, but because he was a Zionist in all his limbs and his brothers."
The rabbi says that over the years, his son was the one who helped him and others in Otniel cope with the grief of the terrible terror attacks they suffered and to formulate a concept of security. "Because he was a member of the security forces, a captain in the army, who conducted many attacks, he had no doubt what to do yesterday. He took his brother Menachem and my grandchildren and went down as a family force to rescue the wounded," says the rabbi.
A firefighter in Sderot, this morning, photo: AP
"They got up, put on uniforms, took the weapons they had as security personnel and went down to Kibbutz Be'eri to rescue the wounded. They rescued dozens of civilians, maybe even more. Pregnant women, the elderly, a little girl who hid in a closet and whose parents were murdered. They found an abandoned armored vehicle and rescued and rescued.
"At some point, a terrorist waiting in one of the houses, while evacuating families, noticed the three and fired at them. Elhanan was mortally wounded and Menachem was lightly wounded. Menachem and my grandson rescued Elchanan, but the injury was too bad," the rabbi said.
Rabbi Clemenson says he is reluctant to be interviewed about his personal story, but he does so to send a clear message to decision makers. "The State of Israel is our top priority. We score every hair from our body hair. Therefore, I have no anger at the Israeli governments that contained and fed the murderers, I have no anger at the IDF, which in my humble opinion, as a military historian, messed up on every possible level and allowed Hamas to carry out what it did through the mistaken conception that such things would not happen."
The Chief of Staff assessing the situation at the Southern Command // Photo: IDF Spokesperson
"However," the rabbi adds, "if the State of Israel, the government of Israel and the IDF do not change this victimhood equation completely, if what happened is that there will be another version, that it will turn out that our victims will be in vain, if they do not do the right thing, I will do everything to invest the energies that remained in me without a vow in pursuing, by democratic means, the people who, instead of helping the State of Israel, led it to the brink of depreciation. I want to strengthen the IDF soldiers and our leadership, who will do the right and brave thing. Instead of leaving us less daunting and less strong, they will change the equation."
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