Lone soldier laid to rest
"...You did amazing work with Maksym's upbringing and education, and I thank you for allowing us to enjoy him. I apologise for not bringing him back safely," Fitoussi said.
Hundreds of people gathered on Tuesday at the Kiryat Shaul military cemetery in Tel Aviv for the funeral of Sgt. Maksym Molchanov, an off-duty soldier killed last week in a terror attack near the central city of Modi’in.
The attacker, Daoud Abdel Razak Faiz, arrived at the Maccabim checkpoint last Thursday from the Israeli side with a stolen truck, made a U-turn without entering the West Bank, and ran over a number of off-duty soldiers who were walking on the side of the road.
The attack left Molchanov dead, another in serious condition, and two more in light condition.
Faiz was shot dead at a nearby checkpoint after allegedly attempting to carry out a second attack. The father of five, from the nearby West Bank town of Deir ‘Ammar, had a permit to enter Israel for work. He had no prior security offences, according to the Shin Bet.
Molchanov, 20, moved to Israel from Kharkiv, Ukraine in 2017, leaving his family behind. He was considered a “lone soldier”, which the military defines as a soldier whose parents do not live in Israel or who is not supported financially by their parents.
His parents, Evgeny and Larysa, flew in from Ukraine on Monday night.
Lt. Col. Oren Fitoussi, the commander of the 411th Battalion of the 282nd Regiment in the Artillery Corps, the unit in which Molchanov served, said he was “an angel from heaven, an angel in human form”.
“Evgeny and Larysa, you sent here a child with values and dreams. You did amazing work with Maksym’s upbringing and education, and I thank you for allowing us to enjoy him. I apologise for not bringing him back safely,” Fitoussi said.
“You were an angel from heaven, an angel in human form. Good-hearted, caring, you were a lesson for everyone,” he added.
His brother Vlad Molchanov said, “He was generous and gave everything he had.
“We love you.”
Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer, of the Otzma Yehudit party, and MK Ze’ev Elkin of the opposition’s National Unity party also showed up at the funeral.
Molchanov moved to Israel at the age of 14 through the Jewish Agency’s Naale Elite Academy, a program for Jewish teenagers to complete their high school education in Israel.
He obtained Israeli citizenship in 2021 and was drafted to the IDF’s Artillery Corps in 2022.
Last year, while in the military, he donated bone marrow that saved the life of a 12-year-old boy.
TIMES OF ISRAEL
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