Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Dr. Yechiel Leiter, arrived in Israel Thursday morning and rushed to the hospital to be at the bedside of his son Neria, who was critically wounded in a terror attack on Route 443.
Leiter thanked the senior medical team treating his son, saying the family felt Neria was in the best possible hands. “The night was very complicated. There was a possibility that I would have boarded the plane yesterday in New York, where I was preparing for the Prime Minister’s visit to the UN, and landed here this morning without hope. Thank God, during the night the doctors managed to stabilize his condition, though his life is still in danger."
Leiter contrasted the situation with the death of his son, Moshe Leiter, who was killed in action in the Gaza Strip nearly three years ago while leading forces from Brigade 551.
“This experience is different from the night I received the knock on the door," he said. “Moshe died immediately. There was no possibility of bringing him to a hospital, operating on him, or allowing Israel’s top doctors to try to save him. There was also no opportunity for us to gather around his bedside, say Psalms and mobilize the people of Israel to pray."
Neria, Leiter explained, grew up sharing a room with Moshe, and the two brothers were extremely close. Since Moshe’s death, Neria has played a central role in holding the family together. Now, Leiter said, an enormous wave of prayer has surrounded his son.
“On the way here, even on the plane, hundreds of synagogues and hundreds of churches that I visited over the past year and a half since I arrived in Washington sent messages. Hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps millions by now, are praying together, Jews and non-Jews, for the recovery of our Neria. We are full of hope that we will get through this time and that Neria will return to us safe and sound."
Leiter also described another deeply emotional development that unfolded alongside the family’s vigil. His daughter Sarah, whose husband fought with the Kfir Brigade during the war, gave birth to a daughter and is now recovering just 40 meters from the ICU where Neria is being treated. Leiter said the circumstances had given the family another reason to see hope amid the crisis.
Leiter said he received news of Neria's injury in New York immediately after an interview in which he had been asked about violence in the region. He argued that the central conflict was over the right of Jews to live in the land and said Palestinian attacks were intended to drive Jews from it. He specifically criticized French President Emmanuel Macron over remarks concerning Hamas and Judea and Samaria.
“It is not enough for the President of France, whether out of ignorance, malice or wickedness, to stand at the UN and say that Hamas has not harmed Jews in Judea and Samaria. The goal of the attack on Netanel Shakron, on my son Neria yesterday, the goal is to uproot us from this place. That is the bottom line. Everything else is chatter."
Neria, he noted, is 39 years old, an economist and the father of four children. Despite circumstances that could have allowed him to avoid further service, he has served approximately 450 days in reserve duty since the war began.
“These are the superheroes of this generation. Everyone gets into the tank without asking who the person is, whether they are from a kibbutz or a settlement, whether they are white or dark-skinned. They fight together to defend this country. This is the greatest generation that has risen for the Jewish people in history."
“Continue the prayers. We need a miracle. We are in need of a miracle. Jews, Christians, anyone who cares about this phenomenon of the return of the people of Israel to their land."