Jonathan Vermeulen

Jonathan, son of Hiltia and Mechil Varmolan, was born in the Netherlands in 1971. In 1975, the family immigrated to Israel. They settled in the Christian moshav Nes Ammim in the Western Galilee. Jonathan attended kindergarten and elementary school in Moshav Regba. At the age of 12 they moved to Nahariya. When his friends enlisted after high school, Yonatan was prevented from enlisting because of his Dutch citizenship. He worked for a year with his father in the carpentry shop. In 1990, Jonathan moved to the Netherlands to learn about life in the country where he was born, but soon realized that his Lev belonged to Israel and only six months later, when the Gulf War began, he returned to Israel to be with his family. In 1993 the family decided to return to the Netherlands, but Jonathan, who received his long-awaited conscription, decided to stay in Israel and enlist as a lone soldier. From the IDF, Jonathan managed to fulfill another dream and joined the Border Police unit. On 28.12.2000, Jonathan was called to dismantle an explosive charge at the Sufa crossing in the south, on the Gaza Strip border. He managed to neutralize the charge, but before he left, another explosive device exploded. He was buried in the cemetery in Hanita.