Cap.Yochai Kalangel and Sgt. Dor Haim Nini Z"L from the Givati Brigade

IDF releases the names of the two ISRAELI soldiers killed recently in fighting along the Golan Heights...

Cap.Yochai Kalangel Z"L and Sgt. Dor Haim Nini Z"L 

members of the Givati Brigade

MAY THEY REST IN THE PEACE OF THE L-RD

AND

MAY THE L-RD GRANT PEACE AND SUCCOUR TO THEIR FAMILIES AND FRIENDS...

WHAT A COINCIDENCE (?) THAT THEY DIED ON THE 70th ANNIVERSARY OF THE LIBERATION OF AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU...HONOR AND GLORY TO THEM!

The IDF victims of the Hezbollah attack on the Lebanese border were named on Wednesday as Cap. Yohai Kalangel Z"L, 25 from Har Gilo, a company commander in the Golani Brigade-Tsavar Battalion and Sgt. Dor Haim Nini Z"L of the same battalion, a 20 year old from Shtulim who will be posthumously promoted to the rank of Staff-Sergeant. Kalangel will be posthumously promoted to major.  Both lost their lives after an anti-tank missiles struck the IDF vehicle they were riding in and another in the same patrol. Seven other soldiers were lightly-to-moderately injured in the attack and were recovering in hospitals in the North.

Kalangel grew up in the West Bank settlement of Elazar and leaves behind a wife, Tali, and their one-year-old child. He is one of six siblings, and on Independence Day this year he was awarded a General Staff commendation for excellence.

Tamir, Yochai’s brother, told reporters Yochai, or “Joha” as the family knew him “was a giant of a man, salt of the earth, a great fighter.”

On Wednesday night, Aviel Nini, Dor’s brother, said he spoke to Dor on Whatsapp on Tuesday night, after he arrived in the North. Aviel said his brother spoke to his girlfriend at 9:30 a.m. and told her “don’t worry, I’m coming back later today.”

“My little brother is a hero, a fighter who loved the army. He was never afraid of anything, was always smiling,” he added.

Following the anti-tank missile, mortar shells launched from Syria were fired at IDF positions on Har Dov and the Hermon Mountain. The army evacuated dozens of people from the Hermon Mountain. A home in the Israeli border town of Kafr Rajar was damaged by a mortar shell. The IDF responded with combined artillery and air strikes on multiple targets in southern Lebanon. "We view Hezbollah as responsible," Almoz said. "This is not necessarily the end of the IDF's response," he warned.

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Video footage has emerged of the initial moments following Hezbollah’s firing of anti-tank missiles at Israeli military vehicles in the Har Dov region near the Lebanon border on Wednesday. At least seven IDF soldiers were injured in the attack. The Israeli military authorities have been on high alert the last 10 days following the attack on a convoy carrying Hezbollah and Iranian officials on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights earlier this month. Hezbollah has vowed to avenge the attack, which it blames on Israel.


"We are continuing to manage this incident from the northern command," he added. "The IDF Chief of Staff is holding an ongoing evaluation of incidents. We are in the midst of this incident." Hezbollah claimed responsibility  for the rocket attacks in northern Israel along the Lebanon border, according to a statement reported by Reuters on Wednesday. The Lebanese terror group said its "Quneitra Martyrs Brigade" carried out the attack.

A former high school teacher of Kalangel’s, Na’ama Tal Cohen-Landau, said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that he was a challenging, at times rebellious student, but one beloved by his friends.

“It was clear to any who met him, including myself, that he would go a long way,” she said.  The head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, David Pearl, referred to Kalangel on Wednesday as “a real hero and a wonderful family man.”  The other IDF soldier killed in the Hezbollah attack, St.-Sgt. Dor Haim Nini, 20, from Shtulim, was laid to rest in the cemetery of his home village later on Thursday.   Limor Avizard, Nini’s cousin, said on Wednesday that Dor “was a king, an Israeli hero. He got through Operation Protective Edge bravely. Any time we would call him, he would say, ‘Don’t worry, everything’s okay. It’s no big deal.’” Dror Shor, the head of the Be’er Tuviya Regional Council where Shtulim is located, said Nini’s family was one of the oldest in the moshav and that the death of Dor, “a wonderful boy,” is “a disaster which is hard to describe.”

Yochai Kalangel, 25, who was killed in Wednesday's Hezbollah attack against IDF soldiers near the Lebanese border was laid to rest at Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem on Thursday.  Thousands of people arrived to honor Kalangel who was killed along with St.-Sgt. Dor Haim Nini when Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon attacked IDF vehicles traveling in the village of Ghajar in the Galilee panhandle with Russian-made Kornet anti-tank missiles.  Kalangel grew up in the West Bank settlement of Elazar in Gush Etzion, and leaves behind a wife, Tali, and their one-year-old child. He is one of six siblings, and on Independence Day this year he was awarded a General Staff commendation for excellence.  Tamir, Yochai’s brother, told reporters that Yochai, or “Joha” as the family knew him, “was a giant of a man, salt of the earth, a great warrior.”  


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This week, while patrolling the Har Dov region in Northern Israel, an IDF Givati convoy was hit by an anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon.  Seven IDF soldiers were injured, and two were killed during the attack — Staff Sgt. Dor Chaim Nini and Maj. Yochai Kalangel. May their memories be blessed.

Please take a moment to send your thoughts and prayers to the families of Staff Sgt. Dor Chaim Nini Z”L, Maj. Yochai Kalangel Z”L, and the seven IDF soldiers wounded in the attack.

Staff Sgt. Dor Chaim Nini, 20, Z”L, was a veteran of Operation Protective Edge and is survived by his parents and two brothers, and Maj. Yochai Kalangel, 25, Z”L, received a commendation from the IDF Chief of the General Staff in May and is survived by his pregnant wife and a one-year old daughter. 

During this Shabbat, let us reflect on the sacrifices that Israel’s soldiers make every day to protect the Jewish homeland.

These young men and women put their lives on the line day in and day out to protect the people of Israel.  Pray for their safety, especially during these tense times.

Join me and send your prayers to the IDF soldiers who protect the Jewish homeland 24/7/365.

Thank you for supporting our brave IDF soldiers every day of the year