Kikis, Benny (Benioshka)
Son of Margaret and Yuri. He was born on 18.2.1982 in Carmiel, where he spent his childhood and youth. My son attended the Irus Elementary School and began high school at the Karmim High School. In the 10th grade he went to study at the naval officers’ academy in Acre, but soon realized that he did not see his future in the army and returned to the high school in Carmiel at the end of the year. He graduated in 2000. Benny excelled at geography and history. At the end of his military service he planned to study medicine or economics. Benny shared his free time between two loves – the music and the computer. He loved nature, hiking, and already in high school he planned with his friends a long trip abroad after serving in the army, and he loved animals, especially cats, and at home he nurtured and raised a cat. He persuaded many of his friends to take a diving course and often went diving in Eilat, with his friends or with his only brother, Aryeh, and in July 2000 he enlisted in the IDF, underwent a paramedics course and was appointed as a company medic. For nine months he served in an outpost in the Golan Heights, and at the end of 2001 was transferred to the Ramallah area with his unit. His friend, Moshe, said: “My son was a wonderful person, a great medic, full of joy, and everyone loved him, volunteering for every possible mission, running around and showing his presence everywhere.” Captain Moshe, Benny’s commander, said: “You came straight from a paramedic course, without a smart smile, and with a big innocent smile you joined the company as if you grew up in it … I found you very intelligent and you could look at things in life from an optimistic and pink look … Your sense of humor was not But you knew how to laugh, to enjoy and always to smile, that is how I will always remember my son, only your smile. After the move to Ramallah, Benny broke his hand and stayed at home for a long time. A week before his death he took off the cast and demanded that the unit be returned immediately so that other soldiers could take a vacation. On February 19, 2002, my son was killed in an operation near Ramallah, where he was posted with seven other soldiers at the Ein Ariq checkpoint, killing six soldiers, including Benny, Staff Sergeant Michael Oksman, Staff Sergeant Tamir Etsami, Staff Sergeant Mark Podolsky and Staff Sergeant Erez Turgeman, who was buried at the military cemetery in Karmiel and was survived by his parents and brother. To the rank of Staff Sergeant. In memory of my son, the Municipality of Karmiel established a monument in the city’s Rabin Park.
