MK Yoni Shtavun from the Jewish Home was the keynote speaker this evening (Sunday) at the Memorial Day ceremony in the city of Elad. The ceremony, which lasted over two hours, was attended by hundreds of the city's residents: ultra-Orthodox, national religious and secular. The ceremony was attended by Mayor Yisrael Porush, public figures and rabbis, including Rabbi Avraham Nachshon, rabbi of the city's national religious community, and Rabbi Shimshon Klein, who is responsible for integrating ultra-Orthodox into the IDF.
""We move on a pendulum of 'life, death and life' – from a beacon to resurrection and from memory to independence," said Stevon, "This is the story of an eternal people, who are not afraid of a long journey." According to him, "On the streets of Israel, in the land of Israel, you will not find bronze statues or human stones, neither of Roy Klein nor of David Shirazi, may God have mercy on their blood," and he clarified that "with us, memory is part of life. We live as if we were dead, we are all sons of a nation that remembers.".
MK Shtavon spoke of the heroism of the bereaved families and said that they are "bearers of the torch of life in Israel and harbingers of hope in our country." Shtavon emphasized that "on this day, and every day, all of us, the entire people of Israel - ultra-Orthodox and secular, religious and traditional - we are all the bereaved family, sons and daughters of a nation that remembers.".
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MK Shtavoun is a retired major and was decorated with the Order of Merit for his performance in the Battle of Bint Jabal, which became one of the symbols of the Second Lebanon War. Shtavoun, who was four meters from the olive grove where the battle was fought, heard over the radio that his commander and friend Major Roi Klein had been killed - "Klein is dead, Klein is dead" - he realized that the chain of command had fallen apart, and made the decision to enter the heart of the fighting. With a team of six fighters, he entered the inferno of fire, and there, together with Captain Itamar Katz, he directed the fighting and led the turning point in the battle. Under live fire and a heavy barrage of grenades, Shtavoun recovered five of the bodies of the fighters, including the body of Major Roi Klein.
This was a private closing of the circle. Six years earlier, in Bint Jebel, the one who rescued Shtavoun and actually saved his life was his team commander, Roy Klein.
