Active-duty soldier recalls losing his big brother at 13
Staff Sgt. Haran Lev's brother recounts the days leading up to Haran's death in the Battle of Bint Jbeil during the Second Lebanon War.
"I never thought that something could happen to him. There was a war, but for me everything felt all right. I knew that my brother was going to Lebanon and then coming back. There was no feeling of pressure; on the contrary, his sudden visit home only added to the sense of relaxation. And at that particular time there was a cease-fire. We felt like everything was okay. Then at night, they told us he had been killed," recalled Sgt. 1st Class S., the younger brother of Staff Sgt. Haran Lev who was killed in the Second Lebanon War.
Staff Sgt. Haran Lev served in Brigade 188 of the Armored Corps. He fell on August 12, 2006, during the Battle of Bint Jbeil, while assisting along with other members of the tank crew to rescue another tank which was hit by an anti-tank missile. Lev's tank took cover to fire at Hezbollah fighters who posed a threat to the tank stuck in broad daylight.
At the end of the rescue operation, Lev's tank was also hit by an anti-tank missile, and all the crew members were killed. In addition to Lev, Staff Sgt. Oz Tzemach, Sgt. Dan Broyer and Sgt. Yinon Yigal Nissan were killed. All were awarded posthumous citations.
Haran's brother, S, is a resident of Kibbutz Ma'ayan Baruch in the Upper Galilee, located very close to the Lebanese border. He is currently serving in the Navy. "Overall, I rather enjoyed the war. All the children of the kibbutz went to Kfar Haruv, and I was with friends all the time. We also went to Kibbutz Na'an, I traveled with my parents; we went to Tel Aviv. Towards the end of the war, we returned home," said S. "There was a bit of confusion, but my parents were very indifferent to the war. I remember we were sitting outside, about 500 meters from the border fence, and there were many explosions. At night, we saw shells flying. But we never thought anything could go wrong."
S. recounts how his brother's company took up position in the south and came to the northern front, where the fighting was going on, towards the end of the war. "When they were in the Golan Heights, we traveled to see him and had Friday night dinner together. We brought them lots of care packages, as we knew they were going into Lebanon," he recalls. "On the way back my mother saw his company commander. She owned a laundromat and suggested to all the guys to bring in all their laundry so that they would go in with clean clothes.
"On Saturday he did in fact come with his four friends, and my mother did all their laundry. Meanwhile, we had a huge barbeque with three tables full of food. And it was quiet, as if the war had stopped especially for our meal. That was the last time the family saw Haran," he reminisced.
S. was then 13 years old. "It was exactly the same day as my bar mitzvah, which was postponed because of the war. My parents are very concerned and are constantly under pressure. When my mother doesn't see me for a week she misses me as if she had sent her son off to war," he recounted. "But it was clear to me and to them that I would enlist. I don't think anyone had a doubt about that."
"I don't think that I'm continuing on his path, but I'm very proud to serve in the army and be in uniform. There is a sense of pride that he was killed in the army, and now the little brother has gotten there," he concluded.
