Posthumous medal for IDF soldier who fought stabbers ‘barehanded’

The IDF on Tuesday posthumously awarded a medal of bravery to an off-duty Israeli soldier fatally injured as he fought unarmed against two Palestinian terrorists who attacked shoppers in a supermarket.

GOC Central Command Maj. Gen. Roni Numa presented the medal to Yael Weissman, the widow of Staff Sgt. Tuvia Weissman, during an army ceremony held at Ammunition Hill (Givat Hatachmoshet) in Jerusalem.

Weissman was shopping with his family in a West Bank supermarket on February 18, when the terrorists began to attack customers. The 21-year-old soldier and another man were seriously wounded in the attack; doctors at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center pronounced Weissman dead a few hours later.

As he was off-duty at the time, the Nahal Brigade soldier was without a service weapon, but nonetheless confronted the terrorists.

“Even though I wasn’t surprised by your heroic act, as the time passes from that day when you gave up your life to save others, and as much as I often ponder your heroic act, it is still seems to me incomprehensible,” Yael Weissman said at the presentation.

“What strength you had in you, Yanai, to act, to leave everything, your little daughter, and me, to save lives, to run into the unknown, to think nothing of it, even when you have nothing in your hands except for your courage.”

Numa described Weissman’s actions and the reason he was awarded the medal.

“Sgt. Weissman wasted no time and ran toward the place where the shouts were coming from, leaving his wife and baby daughter alone. Once he realized what was happening, Sgt. Weissman didn’t hesitate and charged barehanded at the two terrorists, fought with them, and tried to arrest them.”

Two more IDF soldiers received medals for bravery and courage for tackling attackers.

Sgt. Lihi Malka, who serves in a Home Front Command rescue and training unit, fought off an East Jerusalem man who had stabbed and seriously wounded another soldier near Adam junction, north of the capital, in October 2015. Malka, who witnessed the attack, shot and killed the 22-year-old attacker.

Sgt. Matan Shamir of the Givati Infantry Brigade received a medal of honor for defending himself and his commander against two attackers in the city of Hebron.

In December, Hebron cousins Taher Fanun, 19, and Mustafa Fanun, 16, attacked Shamir and his officer while they were on guard duty near Nablus, lightly and moderately injuring them, respectively.

Despite his injuries, Shamir managed to kill the two attackers

Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.