Omer Neutra’s parents: You told your friends we’d do anything for you, and you were right

Ronen Neutra, Omer Neutra’s father, speaks of his son’s final battle on October 7, 2023, and the “chaos he could never have prepared for.”

He speaks of how much his son loved his tank crew and how much they relied on him and loved him back.

“You were something rare, an American open heart with a warm Israeli heart,” Ronen says.

He thanks all who fought to bring Omer back, who didn’t give up, thanking the IDF soldiers, the commanders, the intelligence units, the communities in Israel and abroad, and the Hostages Forum. In English, he thanks the American administration and its envoys.

To his son, he says, “Thank you for being ours for 22 years minus one week.”

Omer’s mother, Orna, speaks of her “perfect, complete boy.”

She says her son was known for his warmth and his light, the hummus he made, his humor, his love of hamburgers with all toppings, his delight in crunching ice between his teeth.

Orna reads from a letter she wrote to her son in 2019, when he left for Israel to become a lone soldier. She describes the need to allow her son to be independent, to evolve on his path, even as they would worry about him throughout his service.

“‘My parents would do anything for me,'” you told your friends on the beach, two days before you were taken from us. And you were right,” says Orna. “And that sentence became our compass through two years of struggle — to bring you home.”