Yonatan Herzfeld is a 25-year-old lone soldier and Paratrooper Reservist in the IDF. A “”lone soldier” is a soldier in the IDF with no family in Israel to support him or her. Yonatan fits that category. He moved to Israel in 2000, and his family is still in the U.S.
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The account below was written by Yonatan himself:
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I am originally from Westchester, New York. On October 7th, I was in New York, spending the holidays with my family, when terror struck my home in Kibbutz Alumim, less than 2 miles from Gaza, where I lived for two years after making Aliyah in 2020.
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Even though I was thousands of miles away, the pain and horror were immediate. Hamas terrorists invaded Alumim in three waves, leaving destruction in their wake. Twenty-three Thai and Nepali agriculture students and workers, innocent festival-goers, and non-kibbutz members who came to help defend our home were brutally murdered.
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My heart sank when I learned of the devastation, the loss, and the trauma my kibbutz faced. The director of the immigrant program I was part of fought bravely near his own house, where his wife and children hid in terror. He was severely wounded, but he survived.
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On the morning of October 7th, I woke up in New York and immediately texted my friend from the army, Netta Epstein, who lived with his family on Kibbutz Kfar Azza, just a few minutes from my home in Kibbutz Alumim. I reached out to make sure he was okay, but tragically, he had already been murdered by Hamas terrorists. His grandmother, uncle, and cousin were also murdered that day. It was an unimaginable loss—Netta was more than a friend; he was a brother in arms, someone I deeply admired for his strength and kindness.
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After I was released from Gaza, my friends from our paratrooper training and I went to visit Kibbutz Kfar Azza. Netta’s parents gave us a tour, showing us where he spent his final moments. We saw his apartment and the very room where he saved his fiancée, Iren, by jumping on a grenade thrown by terrorists.
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He sacrificed his life to protect her, displaying a level of heroism that few could ever match. Standing in the place where Netta died was overwhelming—it brought into sharp focus the devastation we faced as a country and the personal loss I will carry with me forever.
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תהיה חזק חבר
Be Strong, My Friend
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World Herut and World Magshimey Herut, the unapologetic Zionists. Jeff Dunetz (The Lid) is the director of special projects for Herut North America and joins on the Herut North America leadership board. Herut North America is an international movement for Zionist pride and education dedicated to the ideals of pre-World War II Zionist leader Ze’ev Jabotinsky. More about Herut can be found on our website, www.HerutNA.org. When on the site, click this link join Yonatan and me at Herut North America.
