Edri, Yehuda

Yehuda, son of Sa’ada and Shimon Edri, was born on January 4, 1956 in Casablanca, Morocco. In 1961, at the age of five, the family immigrated to Israel and settled in Netivot. In January 1977, he began his career in the army. In May 1983 he began serving as a prisoner of war interrogator. In 1985, he was promoted to lieutenant and returned to his unit as an intelligence officer. In 1989, Yehuda was appointed special officer in the Jericho and Jerusalem areas. He later moved to serve in the Ramallah sector and later in the Bethlehem area. In 1997 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. On 14 June, 2001, Yehuda was killed in operational activity in the Bethlehem area when, as part of his job, he was supposed to meet a Palestinian collaborator. The Palestinian, who arrived at the collection vehicle where Yehuda was sitting, was surprised to discover that two security guards were also in the vehicle. In response, he turned and began to get away from the car. Yehuda did not let go and, adhering to the mission, called the assistant and instructed him to return to the vehicle. The Palestinian decided to return, but when he was near the vehicle, he took out a pistol and shot Yehuda and the security guard sitting next to him. The other guard recovered his composure, pursued him, shot him and killed him. Yehuda was laid to rest in the military cemetery on Mount Herzl. Survived by a wife, four daughters and two sons, parents and eleven brothers and sisters.