Komami, Raanan (Rani)

Son of Yikara and Zachariah. He was born on Wednesday, 22 January 1980, in Moshav Aminadav in Jerusalem, brother to Shirit, Ayelet, Orit and Ortal. Raanan was a calm and patient child, a happy and curious child. He successfully passed and joined the naval commando unit in February 2000. On 7 Elul, 4 September 2003, Israeli naval commandos cordoned off a high-rise building in Nablus, where Hamas leader Muhammad al-Hanbali was hiding. When the soldiers searched the third floor, al-Hanbali opened fire at them. From the shaft of the elevator, the terrorist identified the IDF soldiers climbing the stairs of the building and opened fire at the third and fourth floors, and Ra’anan proved his heroism when he insisted on breaking through the elevator door to find the wanted person in his place of hiding. He was severely wounded and three soldiers were lightly wounded, and his mother wrote to him in a long letter: “You were always optimistic and secure, you were in Jenin at the Defense Shield, you were miraculously saved from death, you were lightly wounded and you did not even tell us. It. We heard from your friends now. You did not know a fear! … You were a year and eight months in the “Mina”. It was not an easy time. We sent you parcels every week for Shabbat, we talked on weekends a few minutes, we saw you barely once a month, but you had a goal. You said to me, ‘Mom, I really want to finish the course and see you at this impressive ceremony so proud.’ And that’s what it really was. When you became a warrior, you entered a difficult period of war on terror, even though you said, “Mother, do not worry, our mission is at sea, and there are almost no accidents at sea. Ten months after his death, a new nephew was named after him, and since then two other sons named after him have been born, one for good friends and the other for his friend from the army. A year after his death, a Torah scroll was written in memory of Ra’anan and brought to the synagogue in Moshav Aminadav, and on the anniversary of his death and on his birthday the family organizes study evenings in his memory. He was twenty-three and a half when he fell. He was laid to rest in the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. Raanan was survived by his parents, four sisters and seven nephews. The personal inscription on his grave reads: “The courageous, tortured and beloved soldier of the Shayetet 13, who fought to save his friends and his people.”