Kan reports that a delegation led by the head of the IDF Personnel Directorate, General Yaniv Asor, visited the house of fallen soldier Ron Sherman to return a stone tablet with writing criticizing the government that had been removed from their son's grave.
The parents refused to take the tablet, and demanded that it be replaced on their son's grave, along with a written apology from a worker in the Defense Ministry who they claim hid it. The tablet reads ‘’Kidnapped, abandoned, and sacrificed in Gaza by the failed government of the disaster of October 7th, 2023.”
Sherman's body was retrieved from a Hamas tunnel in an IDF operation in Jabaliya on December 14th, along with the bodies of Nik Beizer and Elia Toledano. The family was informed by the IDF that there was no way to confirm the cause of death.
His mother, Maayan, stated: “We endured the seven circles of hell. A worker from the Defense Ministry stole the sign, then asked me if that was so important, why not have him buried in a civilian cemetery? The head of the Personnel Directorate asked that as well. The question disgusted me.”
“First of all, Ron was a very proud IDF soldier. He admired the idea. After everything we went through - you still come here and ask me something like that?! I see that as a logical. Why do you think he should not be buried as a soldier?! After you killed him, you abandoned him, and I should have to look for a civilian grave for him?! We buried him just a few hours after we were told he was murdered by Hamas. Only after a few weeks did they clarify to us completely different details, that he was sacrificed to kill a terrorist.”
“The entire delegation of the head of the Personnel Directorate that visited us said that they came to embrace us, but we do not need an embrace. Instead of making all this noise, they could have sent a soldier to put the sign on the grave, and no one would have known about it. It's a deserted location, with just three graves, and not a living soul. This is emotional insensitivity, wickedness, that's what I see here.”
“I don't understand why they insisted. I had permission from the officer in charge of victims to place the sign, and I didn't even think to attach it because I didn't want to do something forbidden.”
The IDF responded in a statement: “The IDF shares the pain of the family for their tragic loss, and will continue to accompany it. The head of the Personnel Directorate visited the family as part of that obligation. The head of the Personnel Directorate did not utter the statement attributed to him.”