The IDF should revise its policy to ease the process for bereaved parents seeking to have children using the sperm of fallen soldiers, Sharon Eisenkot, whose son Sergeant Maor Cohen Eisenkot fell in combat in Gaza, said at the “Women of the State” conference.
“Maor had a dream and a desire to be a father, and I have a mission,” she said. “He spoke about it at home, and with a friend. As far as I’m concerned, there is an unwritten will from Maor, and that is what guides me.”
Maor was killed in the Gaza Strip in December 2023, just one day after his cousin, Gal Meir Eisenkot, fell nearby. Gal was the son of then-war cabinet member and former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot.
Asked whether her campaign has influenced her brother in law, Sharon Eisenkot responded affirmatively: “We are living in a different era. I truly feel the embrace and the support, and I believe it reaches the highest levels, including our leaders.
“Our leaders must show compassion, listen and remember that they sent our sons to fight. I did not send my son to fight — I sent my son to the army. The leaders, the state, sent him to fight. That is their duty toward us, toward the mothers, toward our children. It is the duty of the State of Israel.”
Describing the struggle she began after her son’s death, she said: “On that terrible day, when I was given the worst news of all, I was handed a form to sign for sperm retrieval. In that moment, I knew I had to sign — that it was the right thing to do. That’s how it started. I didn’t choose this; the path was laid out for me.”
Eisenkot also offered a practical proposal to ease the process. “During the enlistment process, soldiers should be asked: if, God forbid, you fall, what would you want to be done? Mark yes or no," she said. "That would resolve everything."
She said that following a feature about her in Yedioth Ahronoth’s weekend magazine, she found the woman who is expected to become the mother of her grandchildren. “It was enough for me to look into her eyes and see the goodness they spread,” she said. “I said she is the right woman for Maor, because he spread only goodness and light. I am tired of settling for a picture. Tired of a gravestone — I want something living from my son.”
She also sought to send a message of strength and hope to other mothers, invoking her son’s personal motto, which was tattooed on his body: “Take the risk or lose the chance.”
“First of all, I tell them to get up again and again every day — to hold on to something, even if it is the smallest thing,” she said. “Do not fear failure. Always dare to move forward, even when it is difficult. In the end, you succeed.”
First published: 15:48, 04.27.26