Tragic suicide of a mentally ill soldier leaves Israel at breaking point
The tragic story of Eliran Mizrahi has haunted Israel for the last week. Ma’aleh Adumim resident Mizrahi, a married father of four, was called up for IDF service shortly after the attack and was assigned to help clear the bodies of those murdered at the Nova music festival. He was then sent to Gaza, where he served as a combat engineer for nearly seven months.
Mizrahi was recognized as a disabled IDF veteran and diagnosed with post-trauma stress disorder (PTSD). However, inexplicably, he received a Tzav 8 (emergency call-up order) from the IDF last week to return to Gaza two days later.
Instead, at the beginning of the week, Mizrahi took his own life.
The tragedy that has befallen the Mizrahi family, and the unbearable anguish they were experiencing, was inconceivably made even worse for two reasons: their shock that he had received a call-up after his diagnosis and after having served for seven months in a brutal war and the refusal of the IDF to recognize him as a fallen soldier.
The family’s efforts to get Eliran recognized with that status and have him buried in the military cemetery at Mount Herzl - and receive the benefits and honor that come with dying in the service of one’s country - was denied by the IDF because he was not on active duty when he died.
His mother Jenny expressed amazement that he was called up considering his condition, saying, “He came home different. We got back a broken man who was impatient with the kids. He was angry, and he had nightmares.” She added that psychiatrists treating him said he couldn’t be helped.
Thousands of soldiers are returning from Gaza with PTSD, and more than 10,000 reservists have asked for mental health services, according to Nifgashim, a social movement that works to provide comprehensive mental health support.
https://www.jpost.com
Mizrahi was recognized as a disabled IDF veteran and diagnosed with post-trauma stress disorder (PTSD). However, inexplicably, he received a Tzav 8 (emergency call-up order) from the IDF last week to return to Gaza two days later.
Instead, at the beginning of the week, Mizrahi took his own life.
The tragedy that has befallen the Mizrahi family, and the unbearable anguish they were experiencing, was inconceivably made even worse for two reasons: their shock that he had received a call-up after his diagnosis and after having served for seven months in a brutal war and the refusal of the IDF to recognize him as a fallen soldier.
The family’s efforts to get Eliran recognized with that status and have him buried in the military cemetery at Mount Herzl - and receive the benefits and honor that come with dying in the service of one’s country - was denied by the IDF because he was not on active duty when he died.
His mother Jenny expressed amazement that he was called up considering his condition, saying, “He came home different. We got back a broken man who was impatient with the kids. He was angry, and he had nightmares.” She added that psychiatrists treating him said he couldn’t be helped.
Thousands of soldiers are returning from Gaza with PTSD, and more than 10,000 reservists have asked for mental health services, according to Nifgashim, a social movement that works to provide comprehensive mental health support.
https://www.jpost.com