Knesset to explore enlistment of bereaved families' sons
Committee on Rights of the Child names Major-General (Res.) Uzi Dayan to head forum tasked with examining existing protocol for allowing sons of bereaved families to join military's combat units
The committee was formed following the tragic death of Captain Asaf Ramon, son of late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, who was killed when his F-16 jet crashed in mid September.
Major-General (Res.) Uzi Dayan will head the committee, which is expected to report its findings by December 31.
According to data presented to the committee, there are currently 905 defense establishment orphans living in Israel and in 2008, the sons of 202 bereaved families turned 18.
The committee also learned that the subject of placing sons of bereaved families within the armed forces was not regulated by law, but subject to the IDF's own directives.
David Mintz, son of Lieutenant Colonel Meir Mintz, who was killed by Palestinian gunmen in Gaza in 1993, will be joining the army in several months. Mintz appeared before the committee and shared his personal struggle with the decision.
"I wanted to join the Givate Brigade and nothing was going to stop me, but my mother had to sign a release form. It created great tension at home. I have no memory of my father. I love him, but I don't know him. Stopping me from joining (a combat unit) isn’t fair."
Mintz's mother, Adi, told the committee about her difficulty accepting her son's decision: "At first, he told me, 'If you say no then that's that, I'm not going.' But then he couldn’t sleep at night and I realized that I had to sign the release.
"That moment, when I had to sign it, was terrible. The state and the military have to face up to their responsibility. If they draft the kids, they have to be the ones to make the placement decisions, not the parents."
Knesset Member Danny Danon (Likud), who heads the committee, said that the fact that the State left the decision of whether or not to allow sons of bereaved families to enlist to combat units was "unhealthy and must change."
