Davids, Yoav Itzhak
Son of Rachel and Nehemiah, who immigrated to Israel from the Netherlands, he was born on June 25, 1956 in Ramat Gan. As a member of a religiously observant family, he was educated at the Etzion State Religious School in Tel Aviv, continued to study at the Bnei Akiva high school in Netanya and completed his studies at the religious high school in Tel Aviv. During his studies he was a member of Bnei Akiva. Yoav Yitzhak was drafted into the IDF in July 1974 and volunteered for the Golani Brigade, where he underwent various courses as a half-track driver, a rifle commander and a rifleman. After he was released from regular service, he married Yafit Goldman and began working as a sales agent for a building materials marketing company. The couple settled in Rishon Letzion and began to cultivate their home. Yoav Yitzhak did not averse himself to hard work and in exchange for the great effort he invested in his work was treated warmly by his employer, whom he loved as a son. He was an exemplary husband and devoted father to a son and daughter who were born to him. In the reserve service, too, he did not stop talking about his home, his family, and his concern for them. He was transferred to a reconnaissance department and his patrol jeep was always properly stocked and fitted. With the outbreak of the Peace for Galilee War, Yoav Yitzhak was called to active reserve duty. On 3 Tamuz, June 24, 1982, the day before his 26th birthday, Sergeant Yoav Yitzhak fell in a battle in the town of Hamdun in Lebanon and was brought to rest in the military cemetery in Kiryat Shaul. Survived by a wife, son and daughter, parents and sister. In a letter of condolence to the family, his commander wrote: “He was very popular with his colleagues in the patrol department, and he was characterized by order and precision in preparation for the battle, and his friends from among the soldiers used to call him morally responsible.”
