Five years after losing what was most precious to them, the families of three lone soldiers from the Golani Brigade who were killed in Operation Protective Edge in 2014 have not forgotten the Israeli strangers who responded to calls to accompany their fallen sons as they were laid to rest.
Staff Sgt. Sean Carmeli, 21, from Texas; Staff Sgt. Max Steinberg, 24, from Los Angeles, and Staff Sgt. Jordan Ben-Simon, 22, from Lyon, France were killed within hours of each other on July 20, 2014.
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When the public learned that the three soldiers had no immediate family in Israel, messages went out on social media asking that members of the public show their support by attending their funerals. The response was overwhelming and touched the bereaved families as well as the nation as a whole. Tens of thousands of mourners attended the funerals in Haifa, Jerusalem, and Ashkelon.
Israel Hayom spoke to the families ahead of the fifth anniversary of their sons' deaths.
Steinberg's sister, Paige, said that at first, the family had been unsure whether to have him buried in Israel or in Los Angeles. After their parents flew to Israel, they decided that their son's resting place would be there.
"It was the first time my parents had ever been to Israel and [only] my second time," said Paige, who now lives in Tel Aviv.
"When we went to Mount Herzl, we saw people from all over. The streets were packed with people. We didn't understand what all the fuss was about until we realized that everyone was there for Max. We were overwhelmed with love and support," Paige said.
Paige said that in those moments, she felt "more understood here, next to the people of Israel. They said that Max would never be alone here and we believed them. There are no words to describe how moved I was, but in my heart, I felt that the only way to deal with the tragedy would be to follow Max and move to Israel."
Carmeli's parents, Dalia and Alon, Israelis who had been living in Texas for over 20 years, felt the same way as Paige Steinberg, and so did Yemin Philippe Ben-Simon, Jordan's father, who left France and made aliyah some two years after his son was killed, on Sept. 11, 2016.
"It was no coincidence I chose that date," Ben-Simon said.
"On Sept. 11 [2001], radical Islamic terrorists tried to threaten the citizens of the free world. I see a direct link between the radical Islamic terrorism that destroyed the Twin Towers in the US and the radical Islamic terrorism from the radical Hamas, which killed my son. Making aliyah on that date is a message to these radical terrorist groups: 'nothing will help you.'"
Joachim Hajaj, a volunteer with the group Ach Gadol [Big Brother], a nonprofit that supports and mentors lone IDF soldiers, accompanies the Ben-Simon family every time they attend a memorial service for Jordan. He also helped translate Israel Hayom's interview with Philippe Ben-Simon from French.
"I still can't believe that Jordan is gone," the bereaved father said.
"I decided to make aliyah because I wanted to be close to him. I do have relatives in Ashkelon, but the reason I decided to live there was simply because I wanted to be as close to Jordan as possible."
Yemin Ben-Simon found an apartment only a few minutes' walk away from the cemetery where his son is buried.
"There are periods when I visit Jordan's grave every day, and there are periods when I don't want to go," he said.
When Carmeli's parents, Alon and Dalia, decided to make aliyah, they were reunited in Israel with their two US-born daughters, who had made aliyah before their brother and were already living here.
"When we came for the funeral, I said I wasn't going back to the US. I told my husband, sell the businesses because I don't want to go back with you," Dalia said.
Most of the family's businesses were sold to the first interested buyer.
"We didn't care about the price. We had gotten to the point where the money wasn't important," Dalia said.
In her first two years back in Israel, she would spend about seven hours a day by Sean's grave, but she says that now, she understands that "Sean is with me everywhere, so I only go [to the cemetery] twice a week."
"We couldn't leave Sean alone in Israel," said Alon Carmeli.
"Sean's moving funeral also played a part in the decision. It's hard to put into words how touching it was to see crowds of people and fans of Maccabi Haifa who hadn't even known him come to pay their last respects and thank him for sacrificing his life for the sake of the country. We realized that in the US we would never receive the support we received and are still receiving here in Israel."
Five years after the young lone soldiers died, many Israelis continue to touch the families' hearts by paying visits to the graves of Sean, Max, and Jordan.
"A lot of people attend his memorial ceremonies, mostly fans and officials from the Maccabi Haifa soccer club, which Sean was a rabid fan of. I already know a lot of them, because they come back every year for memorial ceremonies. I know that Maccabi Haifa fans go there a lot before the team's games at the Sami Ofer Stadium, [which] is nearby. I know this from the candles and the team items that they leave on his grave. It's hard to explain how touching that is," Dalia said.
Paige Steinberg says she wants to "thank the people of Israel for keeping their promise to my family, not to forget Max and the rest of the soldiers. The love and support we are getting has given us strength since we lost Max. We are grateful."
