Herzog mourns US-Israeli reservist Joshua Boone, urges support for lone soldiers’ mental health

President Isaac Herzog mourns American-Israeli reservist Joshua Boone, who was found lifeless earlier this week, and urges the IDF and security establishment to put a special emphasis on supporting “lone soldiers” — soldiers who have no family support system, including immigrants who serve in the army without having relatives in the country — who are suffering mental health issues.

“I just finished an emotional conversation with the parents and partner of Joshua Boone, of blessed memory — a reservist lone soldier who immigrated to Israel from the United States, served more than 700 days of reserve duty, and ended his life in tragic circumstances,” the president writes on social media.

“I’m sorry to say, with great pain, that in recent years I’ve spoken with many parents of lone soldiers, who left their families and their countries to serve and to protect the State of Israel, whom the unbearably heavy cost overcame,” he says.

Herzog calls on the IDF and all security bodies to “deepen the effort to emotionally support, to accompany and bolster the mental resilience of soldiers and reservists, with a particular emphasis on the lone soldiers who have left lives of comfort and come from far away without the support of family here in Israel, and for whom the burden is especially heavy.”

In recent days, Boone’s loved ones have been campaigning for him to be recognized as a fallen soldier and receive a military burial, even though he was not on active duty at the time of his death

Boone, a native of Idaho, originally served in the Golani Brigade and later volunteered to serve in other units after the war broke out on October 7, 2023, racking up more than two years of service in total.

Boone decided only a few weeks ago to take time off from military service in order to address the post-traumatic stress he had accumulated on the front line, a friend told the Knesset.