First of all I want to post a report in today's news then I need to say some things to a couple of forum members in particular and everyone in general.
Australian fighter killed
David Braithwaite, Jano Gibson and Dylan Welch
July 27, 2006 - 3:20PM
An Australian fighting for Israeli forces in Lebanon has been killed in action.
Assaf Namer, 26, was one of eight soldiers who died during a battle on Wednesday.
Mr Namer had only one month left to serve in the Israeli army, the Israeli newspaper Yediot Achronot reported.
"Sergeant Assaf Namer, an Israeli youngster with an Australian citizenship, had left Israel with his mother and sister when he was 10 years old and returned to Israel two-and-a-half years ago to enlist in the army," the newspaper said.
"Assaf was due to be discharged a month from now, and was planning to settle down in Israel with his girlfriend, Revital, who lives in Tel Aviv."
"He used to spend his vacations with Revital and at the house of his grandmother, who lives in Kiryat Yam, near Haifa.
"[On] Wednesday night army representatives arrived at the grandmother's house to deliver the terrible news." Assaf's grandmother had informed his father, Tzachi, of his son's death.
Yoel Meinrath, a school friend of Mr Namer, said he was devastated by the news.
"I'm sitting with a friend at the moment and we are both sitting here in shock. It's really shocking when you hear about the news overseas. [But] they are just numbers. When you actually hear a name, it really hits home," Mr Meinrath said, adding that he had seen Mr Namer outside a Bondi Junction cinema only a few weeks ago.
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive Vic Alhadeff said the man's sister and mother were on their way to Israel.
"We were extremely upset to hear about the death as we are all casualties of this war," Mr Alhadeff said.
Assaf came to Australia 15 years ago as a child with his family and made aliyah about two years ago, the Australian Jewish News reported.
He attended Jewish high school Moriah College in Queens Park and sat for the HSC in 1997.
A Rabbi from the Great Synagogue in Elizabeth Street said an email from Moriah College had been circulated today, telling the community that Namer had died fighting with the Israeli Defence Force.
"The boy who was killed is a former student of Moriah College who had gone back to live with his father in Israel," Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence said.
"He is remembered as a quiet student, a good basketball player - he played on the team - and a graphic artist."
The statement, from Moriah College principal Roy Steinman, said: "He was a talented graphics artist and produced wonderful cartoons and images when computer graphics was in its infancy.
"Some years ago, Assaf took the decision to settle in Israel.
"Our heartfelt condolences go to his parents and family. We mourn with them."
Moriah College is expected to hold a memorial tomorrow.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed Mr Namer's death.
"A 26-year-old Australian-Israeli dual national from Sydney serving with the Israeli Defence Force was killed in fighting in southern Lebanon on 26 July," the department said in a statement this afternoon.
Consular officers were providing assistance to family members, who had asked for privacy, the statement said.
A date for Assaf's funeral will be set once his mother and sister arrive in the country.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/wor.....ullpage#contentSwap1That was a damned rude statement/comment you made x452 to which Gizmo responded to and now I am. "But you're probably too old to realise that." is a throw away comment (on your part) that makes no sense but is very discourteous at the same time. All I can say is that one day x452, you will be 'TOO OLD' also and I hope someone treats you with the same lack of respect.
Aquamonkey... please tone down the language. The statement where you called people from the middle East a very derogatory term is just not on. Disguising an obvious obscenity by replacing one letter with * is not acceptable. I am editing that word in your post and any other references to it.
To all... please this is a very sensitive issue and must be discussed with decorum and calm. It is not a slanging match or a contest of one-up-manship. The protagonists in this conflict are doing enough of that for every one.
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