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IDF Officer Critically Injured in Gaza War to Light Independence Day Torch

(Jerusalem Post) Anna Ahronheim - IDF Col. Shai Siman-Tov was deputy commander of the Golani Brigade's 12th battalion during the 2014 Gaza war and was critically injured when a tunnel collapsed. A concrete beam hit his helmet and broke five vertebrae. He was airlifted in critical condition to Soroka-University Medical Center and has since been wheelchair-bound. He returned to the military in 2015 and currently serves as a team leader at the IDF Tactical Command College. He will light the IDF's torch at the coming 71st Israel Independence Day celebrations. The chairman of the ministerial committee for ceremonies, Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Miri Regev, said that Siman-Tov "symbolizes the determination of the spirit and the strength of the soul to overcome the body's ailments. The process of his recovery from his severe injury during Operation Protective Edge and his return to serve as an IDF commander is a story of the heroism of the spirit and the growing desire to overcome all obstacles....Col. Siman-Tov, I'm proud of you and salute you." "I am grateful for the privilege of lighting a torch as an IDF representative and excited about the opportunity," Siman-Tov said, adding, "I appreciate and cherish the opportunity given to me by my commanders to continue to serve in the Israel Defense Forces." Other torch lighters include the mothers of the three teenagers - Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaer and Eyal Yifrach - who were kidnapped from a hitchhiking post south of Jerusalem and killed by Hamas terrorists.
2019-04-19 00:00:00
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