St.-Sgt. Ari Weiss, 21, who was killed during fierce gunbattles in Shechem yesterday afternoon, will be buried this afternoon in Raanana. Arab gunmen opened fire at the troops while the latter were on a routine patrol in the area. Another soldier wounded in the incident is still hospitalized in serious condition in Tel HaShomer. The Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the shooting. The IDF placed a curfew on the city of Shechem, and Col. Noam Tivon, the commander of the Nachal Battalion that carried out the mission, said that there is no doubt that the IDF will emerge victorious in the Shechem campaign.
Ari Weiss immigrated with his family from the U.S. to Israel eleven years ago. Just two weeks ago, following a short telephone call between Ari and his mother in which she learned that her son and his comrades-in-arms didn't have a whole lot of food, Mrs. Weiss spontaneously organized a "food drive" for the 35 soldiers of Ari's unit. Provisions for 35 were donated by Raanana shops selling shwarma, groceries, baked goods, and more, and the entire Weiss family took part in getting the victuals to the unit. "Everyone made it so easy," Mrs. Weiss told The Jerusalem Post shortly afterwards. "Israelis are always put down as being rude, and here I didn't even have to finish my request in my lame language, and [the shop owners] already understood what I wanted to say and were asking, 'How many?'" Ari himself said, "Everyone was really thankful and gobbled it up... I was smiling because I saw how my mother had organized it, and that meant more than the food itself."
Ari Weiss immigrated with his family from the U.S. to Israel eleven years ago. Just two weeks ago, following a short telephone call between Ari and his mother in which she learned that her son and his comrades-in-arms didn't have a whole lot of food, Mrs. Weiss spontaneously organized a "food drive" for the 35 soldiers of Ari's unit. Provisions for 35 were donated by Raanana shops selling shwarma, groceries, baked goods, and more, and the entire Weiss family took part in getting the victuals to the unit. "Everyone made it so easy," Mrs. Weiss told The Jerusalem Post shortly afterwards. "Israelis are always put down as being rude, and here I didn't even have to finish my request in my lame language, and [the shop owners] already understood what I wanted to say and were asking, 'How many?'" Ari himself said, "Everyone was really thankful and gobbled it up... I was smiling because I saw how my mother had organized it, and that meant more than the food itself."