Uri Ilan

Uri Ilan

Uri Ilan (Template:Lang-he, 17 February 1935 – 13 January 1955) was an Israeli soldier taken hostage by the Syrians during the Zarzar operation on the Golan Heights and committed suicide in Syrian captivity, after being captured in a covert operation. He became a symbol of courage and patriotism in Israel.

In a note he left in his shoes which was discovered upon examination of his body, He wrote "I did not betray, I committed suicide", so as not to reveal a military secret. Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan quoted from the note the first words "I did not betray", which became a symbol of personal sacrifice for the sake of the country's security.

Biography

Early life

Mourners, including Israeli Military Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren, far left, saluting, at the grave of Ilan (1955)

Uri Ilan was born in 1935 in kibbutz Gan Shmuel. His mother was Fayge Ilanit, a member of the First Knesset, and a member of the Mapam faction. Uri was the great-grandson of the famed Talmudic scholar Rabbi Shimon Shkop.

Capture and Suicide

In July 1953, Ilan enlisted in the Golani Brigade. On December 8, 1954, he was sent to an operation (the Zarzar operation) aiming to return a wiretapping device to a telephone line in Syrian territory, near Tel Faher, not far from Kibbutz Dan.

Ilan, together with Lieutenant Meir Mozes, commander of the Golani patrol, joined the squad, which included three paratroopers - Sergeant Meir Jacobi (squad commander), Corporal Yaakov (Jackie) Lind and T.S. Gad Castelnitz. The operation got complicated and the five were discovered and captured. The captives were taken אם Quneitra, and from there they were transferred to Mezzeh prison in Damascus, where each of them was held separately.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, he was captured by the Syrians on December 8, 1954, near a Syrian post in the Golan Heights along with four soldiers in his team. The soldiers were taken into custody in Quneitra and sent to a Damascus prison for interrogation.

In the Syrian prison, they were sent to separate cells and tortured. Believing his comrades to have been killed, as falsely claimed by his captors in an attempt to weaken morale, Ilan hanged himself on 13 January 1955 in his prison cell, using a rope made from the fabric of the mattress cover. In his clothing, Ilan hid nine notes addressed to his homeland, Israel, and his family. The most famous is a scrap of paper on which he wrote the Hebrew words "לא בגדתי. התאבדתי" ("Lo bagadeti, hitabadeti") which means: "I did not betray. I committed suicide," that is to say, he chose to end his own life so as not to reveal military secrets under torture. He was buried on 14 January 1955 in Kibbutz Gan Shmuel.

Return to Israel

On 29 March 1956 the four Israeli soldiers who were captured along with Uri Ilan were returned to Israel in exchange for 40 Syrian soldiers.

Ilan's suicide and the notes he left behind set off a great outpouring of grief in Israel, but also a sense of national pride.