The family of Eliran Mizrachi, a reservist who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and took his own life last week, is fighting for him to be recognized as a fallen soldier and buried in a military cemetery, Israeli media reported Monday.
“He wouldn’t have killed himself if he didn’t have PTSD,” Mizrachi’s sister Hila told Channel 13. “I think that the respect he deserves is to be buried in a coffin with an Israeli flag on it and for soldiers to salute him.
“I want to tell all the soldiers, that no matter what, they won’t be abandoned, and that my brother will not be abandoned. He doesn’t deserve that,” she said in tears.
She said that her brother was still in reserves and questioned how it could be that someone who, according to her, was being called back to active duty fighting in Gaza this week, could be denied a military burial.
The IDF responded to the incident, saying that, “when he died, Eliran was not a soldier and not in active reserves duty, and so is not eligible for military burial according to the law.”
Following the report, MK Idan Roll (Yesh Atid) said Sunday that he requested an urgent Knesset committee meeting on the topic.
“The bereaved families are already having a hard time, and we must prepare for different situations that don’t fit existing criteria in order to try to make things easier for them,” he said.
Mizrachi’s PTSD diagnosis came after he fought in Gaza for months in the Combat Engineering Corps. He leaves behind a wife and four children.
The first in line
Mizrachi was among the first soldiers who went into Gaza, his mother Jenny told KAN. He and the soldiers with him were “the spearhead of this war,” she said.
“He fought for 186 days, was injured twice, and despite the injury he stayed and didn’t want to leave Gaza,” she said. “He wanted to keep fighting to defend the State of Israel and bring back the hostages.”
“I don’t know why he did this to himself,” she said. “I assume that he had terrible PTSD. He and his friends saw things that shouldn’t be seen, they cleared bodies and the people from the Supernova” music festival where Hamas massacred hundreds.
His mother told KAN that she doesn’t think her son got the right treatment, saying that he was told by psychiatrists that he couldn’t be treated.
Mizrachi’s death should serve as a warning to Israelis, said David Solomon, CEO of Nifgashim (Meetings), a social movement that includes a community of reservists that he founded.
This incident should “emphasize more than ever the growing need for support for reserve soldiers and their families in order to facilitate the transition between the routine of combat and civilian life,” he said.
“We must act to make this case be the last of its kind.”
More than 10,000 reservists have asked for mental health services, according to Nifgashim, which works to provide comprehensive mental health support to reservists.
“The reservists want to serve the country and are even willing to sacrifice their lives for us,” Solomon said. “But difficulties at home, with their mental health, and at work pose a difficult dilemma for them between the willingness to serve and their natural desire to maintain their homes, families, and livelihoods.
“It is our responsibility and duty to support them and their families and allow them to go to battle and defeat our enemy,” he said.
The IDF also said that it “shares in the grief of the Mizrachi family over the untimely death of Eliran.”
“Eliran was drafted to reserve duty and was very active in the Swords of Iron War and in previous years. His time in reserves and in his regular service contributed greatly to attack and defense,” they added.