Captain Gilad Balahsan
Reproduction photo: IDF Spokesperson's Office
First Sergeant Philip Moscoe
Reproduction photo: Uriel Hershko
Gilad's mother didn't know
Mother of killed IDF soldier Gilad Balahsan was not told her son was called up for reserve duty; elsewhere, mother of Phillip Moscoe, also killed in Lebanon, talks about her son
Terrible surprise: The mother of Captain Gilad Balahsan, 29, was not aware her son was called up for reserve service in Lebanon. Her husband, who did not wish to worry her, told her their son was in Jerusalem studying.
"I spoke with him and he told me: 'When will they call us up already?" Benny said. "I was concerned. It was clear to me that something will happen to him…Gilad always was the first one, always ran ahead – a sort of hero."
Tuesday morning, the bereaved mother found out the truth after IDF officials informed her Gilad was killed during fighting in southern Lebanon. Another soldier was killed in the clash.
Balahsan, who served as a deputy company commander in the Golani Brigade, was called up on Sunday of last week and a short time later entered Lebanon with his soldiers. His brother, Benny, who was also called up for service, told Ynet Gilad was expecting to be called up.
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"I'm not digesting it. It's hard for me to accept that Gilad is no longer here," the brother said. "I don't know how we'll get through the Saturdays, I just hope he will be watching mom and dad from above."
Relatives said that Gilad, who is survived by four brothers, was first and foremost concerned with the wellbeing of his parents.
"He would talk with dad on the phone for hours," one relative said.
Gilad, who was on the bring of completing his accountancy studies in Jerusalem, is the third soldier from the northern town of Carmiel killed during the war. His funeral will take place Tuesday night at the cemetery in town.
'My son carried last name of grandpa killed in Holocaust'
Luba Moscoe, whose son Philip was killed during clashes in southern Lebanon Monday night, told Ynet her father's entire family perished in the Holocaust, and therefore she kept his last name and passed it on to her son.
"I was very concerned, this is a life-or-death war for the nation of Israel and I want this war to succeed," she said.
"He was a very independent kid from a young age," the bereaved mother said. "My husband and I taught him to make decisions and to be strong." She added that the army did not want to enlist her son at first because he was overweight.
"He lost 24 kilos (about 52 pounds)…went to the paramedics course and finished it successfully. He didn't want to have a desk job," she said. "He was in Lebanon with high motivation, knew why he's there, and wanted to be there."
The Moscoe family moved to Israel from Moscow in 1991. Phillip's sister, Katia, said that "the parents were proud of him and he did everything in order to help out." Phillip Moscow will be laid to rest at the military cemetery on Jerusalem's Mt. Herzl.
Efrat Weiss contributed to the report
