“I have never been afraid of death. I made this choice myself and followed it through to the end. I fell with honor for the sake of my people. I have no regrets.”
Those are the words of Sergeant First Class Yosef Gitarts, 25, a reservist who volunteered to fight against Hamas after the October 7 terror attack, and who was killed by an anti-tank missile fired by terrorists in the southern Gaza Strip earlier this week.
Israeli media have published the letter he wrote to his mother and father in the event that he did not survive the war. It reads, in full (via Ynet and Israel Hayom):
Dear Mom and Dad,
I love you very much. Everything is as it should be. I chose this path myself. I’ve lived a good and interesting life. Nevertheless, I have never been afraid of death. I made this choice myself and followed it through to the end. I fell with honor for the sake of my people. I have no regrets.
I could have chosen not to come here, and to hide. But that would contradict everything that I believe and value and who I consider myself to be. Therefore I had no choice, and I would have done the same thing if I could have chosen again. I made this choice myself and followed it to the end. I fell honorably for my people. I have no regrets.
I love you very much and am proud that you are my parents. You gave me so much. I had a very interesting, rich, happy and unique life. My death only underscores that. You are surely in great pain, but you will overcome it. I really wish for that. Both of you have many people close to you who will support you. Please find something positive in all of this. Be with your grandchildren. Help Israel. I’m okay.
Gitarts will be laid to rest in the Kiryat Shaul Cemetery in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Wednesday morning.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
