In a special ceremony tonight (Tuesday), citations were awarded to IDF soldiers and units that exhibited extraordinary bravery in fighting terrorists during the wave of attacks over the past year.
Arutz Sheva brings you some of their stories:
Sergeant Tuvia Yannai Weisman:
On Thursday, the 18th of February, 2016, two terrorists armed with knives entered a local market in the "Sha'ar Binyamin" industrial park. The terrorists attacked one of the workers and wounded him. Sergeant Weissman was in the area, accompanied by his wife and daughter. When he heard the screams of the wounded worker and further yelling in Arabic, he understood that a terror attack was under way.
Sergeant Weissman didn't hesitate and immediately ran toward the source of the screams, leaving his wife and baby daughter far from the sounds. He located the terrorists and charged them empty-handed, trying to neutralize them. During the struggle, Sergeant Weissman was critically wounded. Other citizens who were in the area eventually shot and killed the terrorists.
In tackling two armed terrorists empty-handed, Sergeant Weissman exhibited extraordinary bravery.
Sergeant Matan Shamir
On Friday, November 27th, 2015, a patrol vehicle from the IDF's Rotem battalion went out on a sweep. During the patrol, half the troops stayed in the vehicle while the other half provided security outside the vehicle, in accordance with their commanding officer's orders. At around 1:30 pm, as Sergeant Shamir and his commander were standing outside the vehicle, two people approached the area and roused the commander's suspicions. He therefore ordered them to produce documentation of their identities. One of the suspects gave the commander a document, and while he was inspecting it, both suspects attacked him and tried to stab him with long knives they had on their person.
The commander pushed one of them away, and they fell onto the ground, struggling. At that moment, the other suspect attacked Sergeant Shamir, stabbing and wounding him. Sergeant Shamir managed to repel the terrorist, subsequently shooting and killing him. Shamir then shot the second terrorist who was fighting the commander, killing him as well. At the end of the incident, the two terrorists were dead, while Sergeant Shamir and his commander escaped with moderate wounds, due to Shamir's bravery and alertness.
Sergeant Shamir's professional and decisive action was motivated by feelings of responsibility and camaraderie.
Sergeant Lichi Malka
On Wednesday, October 21st, 2015, a squad of male and female troops from the Kedem battalion conducted a reconnaissance mission. During the operation, the squad divided into two forces: one commanded by the unit commander and another force of two soldiers, one of which was Sergeant Malka.
At around 3:00 pm, the two troops in the second group were checking the identity of a suspect. As they were doing this, a terrorist armed with a knife charged them from behind and stabbed one of them in the neck. He then started running away.
Sergeant Malka fired some shots toward the terrorist and missed. At this point, her weapon jammed. The terrorist saw this, turned around, and ran at Sergeant Malka in an attempt to stab her as well. As he was doing this, Sergeant Malka managed to get her weapon back in working order, and shot the terrorist several times, killing him.
She then immediately went to tend to her seriously wounded colleague, administering first aid and keeping her alive until medical personnel arrived to evacuate the wounded soldier to the hospital.
Sergeant Malka's quick and decisive action exhibited a sense of responsibility and camaraderie that saved her and her friends' lives.
Sergeant Noam Tubul
On Friday, 22nd of Kislev, 5776 (4th of December 2015), a unit from the haredi Netzach Yehuda battalion performed tasks which included reconnaissance, checking documents and suspicious cars in the village of Aboud in the Binyamin regional district. While soldiers from the unit were checking one of the cars, a knife-wielding terrorist emerged and stabbed one of the fighters in the neck.
Sergeant Tobol saw what was happening and tried to cock his weapon in order to stop the terrorist. However, the weapon jammed and he could not shoot him. Sergeant Tobol jumped the terrorist barehanded and began to struggle with him. The terrorist succeeded in knocking him over, but Sergeant Tobol kept his composure and managed to kill the terrorist in hand-to-hand combat. Immediately afterward he went to attend to his wounded friend, calmed him down and performed a lifesaving procedure for a number of minutes until a professional medical team arrived.
Tubul's act of bravery and the assistance he gave to his friend stemmed from a sense of responsibility and friendship, foiled the terrorist's intent and contributed to saving his friend's life.
Sergeant Haim Sa'ada
On Tuesday, 20th of Tammuz 5776 (26th of July 2016), the Etzion Brigade received information that the murderer of Rabbi Michael Mark was barricaded in one of the houses in the village of Tzurif on the road from Gush Etzion to Beit Shemesh.
A unit of fighters arrived at the scene and began to perform a series of actions which would enable them to arrest the terrorist. Sergeant-Major Sa'ada joined this unit as the driver of an armor-plated excavator. When the unit arrived at the terrorist's house it became apparent that he was barricaded into the lower floor which was concealed by dense foliage. The terrorist opened fire at the fighters and threw explosive devices at them.
Despite the difficult conditions at the site and under fire from the terrorist, Sergeant-Major Sa'ada began to reveal the place where the terrorist was hiding. After professional and patient work with the excavator, he exposed the room and thus allowed the other forces to kill the terrorist. The admirable professionalism displayed by Sergeant Major Sa'ada enabled the forces to strike the terrorist without any of the fighters in the unit being hurt.
Also receiving citations were the Tzabar battalion of the Givati brigade, the Nitzan battalion, the Netzach Yehuda ("Nachal Haredi") battalion of the Kfir brigade, Sergeant 'A' of Netzach Yehuda, and Border Policeman Shai Ohayon.