The University of Haifa is awarding scholarships on Tuesday afternoon in memory of reserve IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, whose abduction by Hizbullah terrorists ignited the Second Lebanon War in 2006. The scholarships are being issued in the framework of a program of scholarships in memory of all the soldiers who died in the war. Representing the families will be Goldwasser's mother Miki.
Last year 119 scholarships were handed out to a like number of students who served in the army. Each student made contact with the family of the soldier in whose name the scholarship was granted.
Evidence indicates that Regev and Goldwasser were murdered during the course of the abduction or shortly thereafter. Hizbullah kept the death of the two reservists a secret until just before their bodies were returned in July.
The University initiated the unique memorial program last year as a way to honor and adopt the families of the fallen soldiers. The scholarships are funded by Younes and Soraya Nazarian, leaders of the Los Angeles Jewish community.
University president Professor Aharon Ben-Ze'ev said, "The University of Haifa embraces in pain, warmth and love the Regev and Goldwasser families, who join the 119 bereaved families of the Second Lebanon War, who have become part of the lives of the university and the students who merit to memorialize, through their studies, the names of the fallen."