Master Sgt. Alexander Filin, an IDF soldier killed Wednesday in southern Lebanon, immigrated to Israel alone from Ukraine 14 years ago through the Naale program, which brings Jewish teenagers from abroad to study in Israel.
Filin, 29, from Haifa, served in the headquarters of the 36th Division. He was killed by an explosive device in southern Lebanon, the military said.
A combat officer, a reserve combat officer and another reserve soldier were moderately wounded in the incident. A noncommissioned officer, two reserve soldiers and a female reservist were lightly wounded. They were evacuated to a hospital, and their families were notified.
The incident occurred at about 5 p.m. while forces from the command post of the 36th Division deputy commander were operating on foot near the Litani River. An initial military inquiry indicated the blast was likely caused by an enemy explosive device. The army said it struck terror infrastructure in the area with artillery fire after the incident.
Filin enlisted in the IDF after immigrating and served as a sniper in the Nahal Brigade. In 2018, on Israel’s 70th Independence Day, he received the President’s Citation for Outstanding Soldiers, two years after he stopped a Palestinian terrorist who tried to carry out a stabbing attack at a checkpoint near Nablus in the West Bank.
After receiving the award, Filin told the local newspaper Tzomet Hasharon that he had wanted to join an elite unit but was prevented from doing so because he was a new immigrant from Ukraine with limited Hebrew and lacked security clearance. “So I chose to enlist in Nahal,” he said.
Asked whether he felt alone in Israel, Filin said he did not. “I am with many soldiers like me, so I don’t feel lonely,” he said. “I got used to living far from home. If I go through difficulties during my service, I talk to my host family in Herzliya, and they help me very much. I love life in Israel more than in Ukraine.”
Speaking about the 2016 attack he helped stop, Filin said the assailant had tried to harm one of his friends. “I shot him and neutralized him, and basically saved my friend’s life,” he said. “You deal with difficult things in the army, and you don’t think about it from the outside. We are not just standing at the border. We are guarding the citizens and the country.”
After the incident, he told the Walla news site that he did not see himself as a hero. “When someone tries to stab you, it is a little difficult,” he said. “You have to think about how not to let him continue doing what he wants. I don’t feel like a hero. I know this is the job, this is why I enlisted. This is why I came to Israel, to be part of everyone.”
Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav said he received the news of Filin’s death with “deep sorrow and great pain.” “Alexander answered the call when he was needed, left his daily life and loved ones, and went out to defend the security of the State of Israel and its citizens,” Yahav said. “He was part of a generation of women and men willing to bear the burden and sacrifice of themselves for all of us, out of a sense of mission, responsibility and love of the country.”