‘Where is the respect?’: Knesset committee hears plea to grant former lone soldier military burial

Speaking at the Knesset Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee, Josh Frisch – a friend of US-born reserve soldier Joshua Boone, who was found lifeless earlier this week – calls for Boone to receive a military burial, despite not being officially recognized as a fallen soldier.

Boone was considered a lone soldier during his mandatory military service, meaning he had no immediate family in Israel.

Under Israeli policy, any soldier who dies while on active duty is automatically recognized as a fallen soldier and receives a military burial, while those who die off duty – even if their death is directly linked to their military service – are not granted that status.

“Josh Boone isn’t just any soldier,” Frisch, himself a former lone soldier now serving in reserves, tells the committee. “He was one of the best snipers I think I ever knew.”

Boone 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. According to Frisch, Boone decided only two weeks ago to take time off from military service in order to address the post-traumatic stress he had accumulated on the front line.

“He left everything to come here and defend our home,” Frisch says of Boone, who immigrated from Idaho. “That’s who we are. Lone soldiers leave everything to defend our home.”

Frisch says he came to the Knesset for the first time today because “they told me that my friend who fought for 748 days won’t get a military burial, won’t be recognized as a fallen soldier, and won’t get anything… Where is the respect for the man who fought for 748 days for this country?”

In a statement, Boone’s loved ones say, “The family, together with Josh’s friends and the lone soldier community, are calling on Israel’s leadership to ensure that Joshua Boone is formally recognized as a fallen soldier and laid to rest with the full military honors befitting his service and sacrifice.”

They add that funeral details will only be shared once Boone is recognized as a fallen soldier.