דניאל שירן

The soldier, who was reported wounded to Igor and was also killed in the same incident is Daniel Shiran. His father, Dr. Avinoam Shiran, telling about Daniel in relation to Igor

please visit a site dedicated to Daniel Shiran here: http://www.danielshiran.co.il/

Daniel was born in Jerusalem on March 5 1986, during my last year in medical school. When he was 4 months old we moved to Haifa. He was my eldest son. He was very unique and smart. He developed rapidly as a baby and toddler, and in elementary school he was the only one from the third grade selected for a special program for gifted children. He was a curious child, interested in a variety of fields: Biotechnology which was his major subject in high-school, history and politics. He loved sports, especially soccer, played a lot and was a fan of “Maccabi Haifa”. He loved to ski, cook, dance and travel. He was very modest, didn’t talk much - but when he did, every word was meaningful: it was like he understood instantly what took other people a whole life time to understand.

Daniel had his list of priorities, he did only what he thought was important:

His classmates in high school told us that he used to seat in the back of the class, read the sports section in the newspaper, play cards with his friends, and at the end of the class summarize the lesson in 3 sentences that his friends would copy, because it was the best.

He was 190cm tall, 90Kg and all muscles, very handsome and very shy. His friends told us that when they went out to nightclubs all the girls would try to pick him up, but he waited for the right one.

He wanted to be a combat soldier in the IDF because he thought this was the only way to do something meaningful defending our country. He had problems with his feet and his medical profile was set as non-combat, but he fought the decision until they let him. He was drafted on November 2004 to Golani, an infantry brigade. During the long and difficult journeys his ankle used to swell and he limped for a week after each journey but wouldn’t give up. Following the training period he became an excellent skillful soldier, highly appreciated and loved by his commanders and comrades, always ready to give a hand when needed, never complaining.

The last time we saw him was on Saturday, 6 days before he was killed. We came to visit him in his base, brought food for him and his company, and spent 2 hours with him. When we parted at the gate, he took the bags of food that we gave him (refusing help) and went in. I looked at him until he vanished, thinking it could be the last time I would ever see him. It was. On the night of August 4 he went into the Lebanese village of Markabe, 2.5 Km from the Israeli border, looking for terrorists. They used the innocent looking village houses as bases, filling them with ammunition and military equipment. He was one of the best soldiers in his company, and that is why he led the force with his machine gun. A suicide terrorist emerged from a house on his left, 7 m away and shot him in the head. Daniel died instantly. The terrorist was killed instantly by the company leader. During the battle that followed Daniel’s friend Omri Elmakayes was also killed, an officer wounded, and Dr. Igor Rotstien that rushed to their help was killed as well. The other terrorists were killed by the company.

Our grief is too great to bear. With his talent and spiritual strength, we can only imagine what he could achieve, if he had the chance. He was only 20 when he died, leaving a broken mother, 16yo brother and a 10yo sister. I can’t stop thinking about him.

Avinoam Shiran, MD

Lady Davis Carmel Medical Center

Haifa, Israel

shiranad@012.net.il