Itach, Tzachi
Ben Yafit and Aryeh. He was born on October 7, 1980 in Dimona. The eldest brother of Amos, Etty and Leahy. He spent his childhood in Dimona. When he was ten years old, the family moved to Mitzpeh Ramon, in the wake of Father Aryeh, who served at the time as a lieutenant colonel as deputy commander of the officers’ school. Tzachi attended the “Ramon” elementary school in Mitzpeh Ramon. When he was crying, the family moved to Yavneh, where he continued his studies at the Ginsburg High School. Tzachi studied criminology and excelled in his studies. As part of his studies, Tzachi wrote a research paper in sociology that was highly praised and discussed: the motivation of boys to follow their father and serve in combat units. Tzahi was a gifted musician who began playing keyboards at the age of six and reached a professional level. He produced the graduation party of the twelfth grade in his high school, leaving behind about four hundred and fifty musical playbacks and eighteen recorded songs that he sang with his sister. He was a member of the Budart club in Yavne, where he practiced steadily and achieved achievements. Tzachi was at the center of social activity in his class and was a leader among his friends in the Yishuv. Prior to his induction into the IDF, he asked to volunteer for a unit that his father had established and was accepted by the Givati Engineering Company. It was a closure for him and he was very proud. In March 1999, he enlisted in the IDF and was stationed at the Beaufort post in the eastern sector of the security zone in southern Lebanon On Friday, February 11, 2000, in the early afternoon, Tau tanks at the position of Tzachi and his friend Roy Cohen. Roi and Tzahi were killed. He was nineteen and four months old. He was laid to rest in the military section of the cemetery in Yavneh. Survived by parents, brother, two sisters and a friend, Moran. After his fall, Tzachi was promoted to sergeant. His parents immortalized his memory by buying watches for his friends in the unit and setting up a music room at the Ginsburg school, where Tzachi studied. His family set up a website for him in his memory: http://tzachi.netvision.net.il. The media published the father’s call to then-prime minister Ehud Barak to remove the boys from Lebanon. About three months after Tzachi’s fall, the IDF withdrew from Lebanon to the international border.
