In his address to the US Congress on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brought attention to several Israeli soldiers and citizens who exemplified courage and sacrifice during and after the October 7 attacks. These individuals, present at the speech, "come from every corner of Israeli society, every ethnicity, every color, every creed, left and right, religious and secular. All are imbued with the indomitable spirit of the Maccabees, the legendary Jewish warriors of antiquity."
Netanyahu introduced Lieutenant Avichail Reuven, an officer in the Israeli paratroopers of Ethiopian descent. When "Avichail heard the news of Hamas' bloody rampage. He put on his uniform and grabbed his rifle, but he didn't have a car. So he ran eight miles to the frontlines of Gaza to defend his people." He received a standing ovation from the crowd.
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Master Sergeant Ashraf al Bahiri, a Bedouin soldier from the Israeli Muslim community of Rahat, was also recognized. During the attacks, Al Bahiri defended his military base and nearby communities, including Kibbutz Be'eri. "Like Ashraf, the Muslim soldiers of the IDF fought alongside their Jewish, Druze, Christian, and other comrades in arms with tremendous bravery," Netanyahu praised.
The prime minister acknowledged Lieutenant Asa Sofer, who lost his right arm and vision in his left eye while protecting fellow soldiers from a grenade. Despite his injuries, Sofer plans to return to active duty as a tank company commander. Additionally, Netanyahu mentioned Lieutenant Yonatan Ben Hamo, who continued fighting after losing a leg in Gaza.
The speech also honored Yechiel Leiter, father of Moshe Leiter, an officer "killed when a booby-trap mine exploded in a tunnel shaft right next to a Mosque. At his son's funeral, Yechiel, whose own father escaped the Holocaust, said this: 'If the State of Israel had not been established after the Holocaust, the image engraved in our collective memory would have been the photograph of that helpless Jewish boy in the Warsaw Ghetto holding his hands up in the air with Nazi rifles pointed at him. But because of the birth of Israel,' Yechiel continued, 'because of the courage of soldiers like my son Moshe, the Jewish people are no longer helpless in the face of our enemies.'"
Netanyahu used these personal stories to illustrate the diversity and resilience of the Israeli Defense Forces, describing the soldiers, saying, "These are the soldiers of Israel – unbowed, undaunted, unafraid. As the Bible says, 'עם כלביא יקום' – they shall rise like lions. They've risen like lions, the lions of Judah, the lions of Israel."
The prime minister concluded by reaffirming Israel's commitment to the phrase "never again," pledging that the sacrifices made would not be in vain.
