Uri Ilan

Uri Ilan

Uri Ilan (Hebrew: אורי אילן‎, 17 February 1935 – 13 January 1955) was an Israeli soldier who committed suicide in a Syrian prison, after being captured in a covert operation on the Golan Heights.^[1] He became a symbol of courage and patriotism in Israel.^[2][3]

Biography

Early life

Israeli Military Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren on left, saluting, at the grave of Uri Ilan (1955)

Ilan was born in 1935 in kibbutz Gan Shmuel. His mother was Fayge Ilanit, a member of the First Knesset.^[4] He joined the Golani infantry division in 1953. He was the great-grandson of the famed Talmudic scholar Rabbi Shimon Shkop.

Capture and suicide

According to the Israel Defense Forces, he was captured by the Syrians on December 8, 1954 near a Syrian post in the Golan Heights along with four soldiers in his team.^[5] The soldiers were taken into custody in Quneitra and sent to a Damascus prison for interrogation.

In the Syrian prison, they were sent to separate cells and brutally tortured^{[citation needed]}. Believing his comrades to have been killed,^[5] as falsely claimed by his captors in an attempt to weaken morale, Ilan hanged himself in his prison cell, using a rope made from the fabric of the mattress cover. In his clothing, Ilan hid nine notes addressed to his homeland, Israel, and his family. The most famous is a scrap of paper on which he wrote the Hebrew words "לא בגדתי. התאבדתי" which means: "I did not betray. I chose suicide".^[5]

Return to Israel

On 29 March 1956 the four Israeli soldiers who were captured along with Uri Ilan were returned to Israel in exchange for 40 Syrian soldiers. Uri Ilan's body was later returned to Israel.^[6]

Ilan's suicide and the notes he left behind set off a great outpouring of grief in Israel, but also a sense of national pride. His life story became a symbol of heroism and self-sacrifice in Israel's ongoing struggle for survival.^{[citation needed]}

References