Families of soldiers who died by suicide petition High Court for IDF recognition

Families of soldiers who died by suicide since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught have filed a petition with the High Court of Justice to demand their loved ones be fully recognized as fallen soldiers, Channel 13 reports.

The families are seeking to block the implementation of recommendations made last week by a committee tasked with examining the IDF’s response to suicides linked to psychological trauma from military service. Last week, the panel concluded that the IDF would take responsibility for soldiers who died by suicide but would stop short of classifying them as IDF casualties.

The petition, filed by the Jerusalem Institute of Justice and the Combat Diamonds Forum, which supports combat veterans with PTSD, calls for full recognition of soldiers who took their own lives after service, granting them the same status as soldiers who died while in uniform.

The petitioners argue that there is a direct link between military service and the suicides, highlighting the mental toll of combat.

Tomer Wasserstein, brother of reservist Roi Wasserstein who died by suicide last July, says that his brother “gave his spirit in battle and couldn’t live with the images he saw during his service.”

“The soldiers who gave and continue to give their lives so we can feel safe deserve the proper honor and full recognition in their time of distress,” he adds.

According to Rotem Ben-Simhon, director of legal aid at the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, “at least 74 soldiers and service members have died by suicide due to mental distress linked to their service, with approximately 279 suicide attempts.”

“In this case, there is a clear causal relationship between military service and death, and there is no legal or moral basis to differentiate between a soldier who was physically wounded and died as a result of that injury, and a soldier who was mentally wounded and ended his life because of it,” she says.

Under the committee’s recommendations, families would be given up to two years after the end of a soldier’s service to seek recognition of suicide cases linked to military service, to allow time for investigation and assessment.