Slain Druze soldier worked illegally to support family
Family says Tamer Abu Yaman, whose body was found mutilated Wednesday, had been AWOL for months before army contacted them
The IDF soldier whose body was found mutilated in the woods outside Haifa on Wednesday was AWOL from the army for seven months before the military contacted his family to ascertain his whereabouts, family members told The Times of Israel.
Tamer Abu Yaman, a 19-year-old Druze from Rameh, went missing last Wednesday and his body was found near the road leading from the town of Nesher up Mount Carmel to the University of Haifa.
Abu Yaman enlisted in the IDF in March 2013 but, because of his family’s dire financial situation and the IDF’s refusal to provide him the monetary assistance he requested, he deserted in order to work outside the army. His family, which rents an apartment in the Galilean village of Rameh, is reported to be extremely impoverished and socially isolated.
According to his family, Abu Yaman couldn’t reach the base he was assigned to near the city of Tira via public transportation alone, and the army didn’t reimburse him for the cost of travel to base. Because, as a soldier, he couldn’t work legally, Abu Yaman worked as a black market contract laborer and at a soap factory in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona.
Police have launched an investigation into Abu Yaman’s death, suspecting criminal activity, rather than a political motive. There was no indication that Abu Yaman’s death was connected to his army service, The Times of Israel learned.
Ali, the soldier’s father, said late last week that his son had tried to travel to Haifa last Wednesday and that several hours later he lost contact with him. When he reported his son’s absence to the police, they reportedly told him that there was no threat to Tamer’s life.
Ali Abu Yaman, a disabled veteran of the IDF and the Border Police, said on Saturday that he had not been contacted by anyone in the army throughout the search for his son.