Golani commander Grinberg remembered for relationships with troops, young daughter
Israel’s airwaves are awash in praise for Tomer Grinberg, the commander of the vaunted 13th Battalion of the Golani Brigades, who was killed in battle along with several soldiers in Shejaiya.
A video making the rounds shows Grinberg rallying his troops days after the October 7 Hamas onslaught, in which the battalion lost some 40 fighters.
“In 10 years, there will be [another] hero commander of the 13th, with hero troops. Some of you will be parents, some of you will be who knows where. He’ll dispatch the force on Yom Kippur. And they will tell about you and see pictures of our dead,” he says in the video, comparing his soldiers to those who fought in the Yom Kippur War in 1973, whom they presumably had heard stories about.
“You are no less heroic than them,” he continues. “You’re not spoiled. You don’t seem to be the iPhone generation.”
"גדוד 13 גיבורים, עוד יספרו את הסיפור שלכם": התיעוד המרגש של סא"ל תומר גרינברג, שנפל בקרב בשג'אעיה | לידיעה המלאה >>> https://t.co/Dw1R6x8hqN@ItayBlumental @ela1949 pic.twitter.com/2zLQ4Ro7v6
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) December 13, 2023
Grinberg took over the battalion over the summer. At the time, the army distributed a picture of him hugging his overjoyed 4-year-old daughter at the handover ceremony.
A video of his daughter pointing to a picture of “daddy” on the front page of Israel Hayom also makes the rounds.
סא"ל תומר גרינברג ז״ל, גיבור ישראל.
pic.twitter.com/JHx78ThRG2— Gil Solomon ????️ (@Soloph0ne) December 13, 2023
“I have a lot to tell her. I hope she’s not mad. I haven’t been home in a month,” he told Channel 13 in an interview several weeks ago.
Baruch Ben Yigal, whose son served under Grinberg and was killed in 2020, tells Radio 103FM that he feel like he “lost another son.”
“Since Amit died, Tomer made sure to come over and take part in any ceremony in Amit Ben Yigal’s memory. Thank you, dear Tomer. Grinberg family, you are now part of our family,” he tells Ynet.
Grinberg will be laid to rest at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem at 3 p.m. today, the army says.