29% of Operation Protective Edge medal winners were religious Zionist soldiers

IDF Medal of Honor Award Ceremony (photo: inn.co.il)

When the IDF Spokesman's Office released the names of the 24 combat soldiers who earned the IDF Chief of Staff Medal of Honor for acts of bravery under fire during Operation Protective Edge, one statistic stood out: seven of the 24 (a disproportional 29.2%) were graduates of religious Zionist educational institutions, including one student and three graduates of Hesder Yeshivot.

This is yet another testimonial to the revolution of leadership in Israeli society that the Yeshivot Bnei Akiva Educational Network has led over the past 75 years, Training Israel's Future. 

Cpl. Yehuda Wishlitski being congratulated by
IDF Chief of Staff  (photo: walla.co.il)

At YBA, we like to think of our graduates as Torah Warriors™; on the front lines for Israel’s survival, and in the forefront of Jewish Education.

Eitan Ozery, the Director General of the Hesder Yeshiva Association in Israel, expressed it best when he said, "Hesder Yeshivot educate toward the Jewish value of 'mesirut nefesh' (self-sacrifice) in the face of battle. The Beit Midrash (study hall) is their source of fortitude; and their strength of character stems from the Torah."



The seven religious Zionist medal winners are:

• Cpl. Yehuda Wishlitski, a student at Yeshivat Hesder Beit Shean
• Staff Sgt. Erez Halfon, a graduate of Yeshivat Hesder Beit El
• Sgt. Matanya Maguri, a graduate of Yeshivat Hesder Yaffo
• Lt. Elishama Jacobs, a graduate of Yeshivat Hesder Alon Moreh
• Sgt. Yuval Heyman, from Efrat, whose family received the medal posthumously
• Lt. Eitan Feund, from Jerusalem, who risked his life charging into a tunnel to retrieve the body of his fallen fellow officer, Lt. Hadar Goldin
• Sgt. Roni Jackson, a religous female soldier from Kochav Hashachar, who spotted a band of terrorists emerging from a tunnel near Kibbutz Sufa and directed cannon fire to the site, thus saving many lives.