Cpt. Dekel Swissa, 23: Golani commander did national service in Atlanta

Cpt. Dekel Swissa, 23, a platoon commander in the Golani Brigade, from Bar Giora, was killed on October 7 battling the Hamas invasion of southern Israel.

Dekel was stationed at the Paga IDF outpost that Saturday morning, and was the only commander on duty there that day. When he realized that they were under attack and he was in charge, Dekel jumped into action, survivors from the base later said.

“He got his soldiers together, gave them a short speech about how this is what they had been readying for for months, and he fought until his last drop of blood,” Dekel’s brother, Eden, told Ynet.

Around 10:30 a.m., when Dekel realized how outnumbered they were, he ordered most of the soldiers to hole up inside the outpost’s dining hall, which was also its bomb shelter.

But he and Sgt. Roei Peri remained at the main gate of the base, battling the Hamas attackers until they were both slain in the battle.

Ultimately, 14 soldiers in total were killed battling in and near the Paga outpost that day: Dekel, Roei, Staff Sgt. Tomer Barak, Sgt. Lior Azizov, Sgt. Habib Kiean, Staff Sgt. Idan Raz, Sgt. Ido Binenstock, Staff Sgt. Shalev Baranes, Staff Sgt. Yakir Levi, Staff Sgt. Itay Glisko, Sgt. Itamar Cohen, Staff Sgt. Haim Meir Eden, Staff Sgt. Itamar Ben Yehuda and Staff Sgt. Dolev Amouyal.

Dekel was buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on October 12. He is survived by his parents, Gila and Moshe, and his three older siblings, Lital, Eden and Noy.

Born in the small town of Bar Giora just outside Jerusalem, Dekel was the youngest in his family, attending schools in nearby Beit Zayit and Tzur Hadassah, according to a memorial website. Dekel loved coffee, particularly brewing it on an outdoor camping stove, and in his memory his loved ones created a line of coffee liquor.

At age 15, he decided to attend a pre-military dormitory school, joining the Reali School in Haifa. After graduating, he did a year of national service as a Jewish Agency emissary stationed in Atlanta, Georgia.

Neil Kalnitz, whose family hosted Dekel while he was in Atlanta, told a local news station that “he treated people with respect and never raised his voice, and he was just a good soul.” Their son Noah said Dekel “was sweet. He was loving. He was funny. He even came on our family trips with us. We took him down to Florida.”

When Dekel returned to Israel, he attended a pre-military academy in the West Bank settlement of Eli. In March 2020, he enlisted in the IDF, serving first in the elite Maglan unit, then undergoing officer’s training and was appointed as a platoon commander of trainees in the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion.

He was also a doting uncle to his nieces and nephews and loved spending time with them on breaks from the army, playing a big role in their lives.

His older sister, Lital, told Army Radio in an interview that despite the 16 years between them, “the connection between us was a special relationship, very united, we were very good friends.”

Even though he was the youngest, she said, “he was the one who always gathered us together, he’d give us instructions and we’d happily carry them out with love. He was someone you could sit with and seek advice from, he had many insights into life.”

During his year in Atlanta, she said, “he totally succeeded in his mission, he had a big influence on the community,” noting some families who had since made aliya and others who were still in contact with the Swissa family, and came specially to pay condolence calls. “He succeeded in touching so many people there.”

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