Israeli politicians, public figures attend Roni Daniel's funeral in TLV
"Daniel always spoke from his heart. He manifested the simple truth, maybe the last Israeli consensus," said Defense Minister Benny Gantz at the funeral.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFBenny Gantz speaking at Roni Daniel's funeral(photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)
Roni Daniel, who passed away on Monday at the age of 73, was buried on Thursday at the Kiryat Shaul Cemetery in Tel Aviv.
Daniel worked for nearly 30 years as a journalist and as the military-affairs commentator on Channel 2, which later became Channel 12.
His funeral was attended by several ministers and prominent figures in Israel, such as Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, former president Reuven Rivlin, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi and former IDF Chiefs of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and Gabi Ashkenazi.
"He always spoke from his heart. He manifested the simple truth, maybe the last Israeli consensus," Gantz said about Daniel at the funeral.
“Roni was not just a military commentator,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Monday. “He was the voice of another era, of the good Land of Israel, of loving the state and maintaining its security, of the kibbutz and the city together.
“He criticized when necessary; gave a good word when it was deserved. He will be missed by all of us on screen and in our hearts. My condolences to the family. May his memory be a blessing.”
Daniel was born in Baghdad. At the age of two months, he lost his father, and at the age of three, he immigrated to Israel with his mother and grew up on Kibbutz Maoz Haim in the Beit She’an Valley.
In October 1965, he enlisted in the IDF in the Nahal Brigade’s 906th Battalion. He went through a training course as a combat soldier, an infantry cadet course and an infantry officer course. At the end of the course, he returned to the Nahal Brigade and became a platoon commander.
During the Six Day War, he fought in the Battle of Abu-Ageila on the Egyptian front and was wounded by shrapnel, but he returned to the front. In the late 1960s, he became a company commander and fought in the War of Attrition.
Before moving to television, he worked for Israel Radio, first as a transportation reporter and then moving to military reporting, the field with which he is identified. From 1992 to 1993, he was one of the presenters of the Communications File program on Israeli Educational Television.
In recent years, Daniel returned to talk radio and hosted programs on The Jerusalem Post Group’s 103FM radio, including The Security Cabinet and a program of conversations with listeners on Thursdays.
