Today we will go to the cemetery, like far too many bereaved parents, families and friends in Israel, and the heart will freeze from the intensity of the longing and the sense of loss.
Our youngest son, Gal, was a straightforward and joyful person, diligent and a triathlete, a people person who embraced others, looked them in the eye and made a point of seeing deeply. He always set goals and achieved them. He loved to travel and to live. He dreamed of becoming a doctor or a scientist, and he was a loving and beloved son, brother, grandson, uncle and friend.
On Oct. 7, he lost a close friend, and the abduction of members of our people shook him deeply. He reported for reserve duty that day. I drove him to the meeting point and watched him until he disappeared into the large crowd of his remarkable generation. As a father and as a commander in the IDF, I felt both pride and concern. He did not run to battle out of joy, but out of duty to his country and his people.
On the first night of Hanukkah 2023, Gal went into battle with his teammate from his regular service days, Eyal Berkovich, 28, a medical student from Susya (a community in the southern West Bank). Different and alike, like brothers. Israel at its best. Together they set out on their final mission — recovering the bodies of abducted victims — from which they did not return. In the name of Jewish and Israeli mutual responsibility, they went to bring home fallen captives under the clear promise: no one is left behind. I hope that in his final moments he drew strength, and that the turmoil within him eased in the name of the mission he undertook.
The void you left when you went, Gal — the endless absence and the chilling understanding that I will not see you again — sear my soul.
Over the past two and a half years, I have heard and read many hundreds of eulogies. I make a point of taking them to heart, to know, even a little, those who have fallen. The desire to do more, to save, to unite, to make this a better place, and the hope that it will be so, are shared by all the fallen.
For two and a half years now, we have been at war — a war that began with a heinous massacre and an inconceivable failure, followed by a great recovery on behalf of the people and the country by the best of our sons and daughters, in brave fighting that inspires appreciation and pride. It is a remarkable generation of committed, strong and wonderful people. In memory of the fallen and in honor of the young generation fighting for the country’s security, character and future, I say: we all have a duty to be worthy of the great and ultimate sacrifice they made for us. Being worthy is not a slogan. It must be a way of life.
After Gal fell, I had to decide how to cope. Naturally, there is a pull toward turning inward and dealing with grief privately. But there is also a deep inner voice that commands repair and rebuilding. At Gal’s grave, I vowed that the price he and his friends paid — those he knew and those he did not — would not be in vain. Since then, with each passing day, I have felt an increasing obligation to fulfill that calling.
I do not grieve only my personal and family loss for Gal, Yogev and Maor. I grieve the shared national sense that something deep and fundamental has cracked in the covenant between the people and its leaders. I look at Gal’s friends — secular, traditional and religious, from Tel Aviv, from the West Bank and even, like me, from Eilat. Among them are right-wing, left-wing and centrist Israelis. The thought that they give their all but the state does not see them is, to me, intolerable and violates the promise at the heart of the Zionist project.
We must take it upon ourselves to clear the noise, to look inward and forward, to imagine a different Israel — one whose leaders tell the truth, set a course and offer hope, the Israel we all remember and dream of. An equal Israel, mobilized, building, pioneering, united — brothers and sisters together.
To be worthy of them and of this price is also to be worthy of ourselves — to realize the immense potential of the Israeli people, to be a model society, a state that cares for its citizens and sees them, all of them.
Together we will build a shared and better present and future. It is possible. I believe. Believe with me.
I still believe, with deep conviction, in Zionism, and I urge you to hold on to that same faith and hope.
I love the State of Israel. I am proud of the State of Israel. Israel’s security and prosperity have been, and remain, my life’s mission. I am determined to carry out this mission under the imperative to be worthy — of them.
Together, we will act and succeed.
Lt. Gen. (res.) Gadi Eisenkot, the 21st IDF chief of staff. His son Gal, a 25-year-old reservist soldier, was killed on Dec. 7, 2023, during an operation to recover the bodies of abducted victims in Gaza.