Israel (Srulik), son of Chana and Meir, was born on May 1, 1949, in Ayelet Hashahar, where he finished elementary school at Kibbutz Hagoshrim, then completed high school in Kibbutz Dafna. For three years, Srulik, as his family and friends called him, moved to Kibbutz Hagoshrim with his parents, and from childhood he worked in various occupations, mainly handicrafts, and he enjoyed listening to music of various kinds: classical, modern and folkloric, For a number of years, he was interested in art and poetry, and from an early age his Lev was attracted to everything related to airplanes As a Bar Mitzvah gift, he asked for a subscription to the Israel Air Force magazine, and he was interested in electricity and electronics, and spent most of his work hours studying the electrical profession and doing electrical work. He had many friends in his group, but since his class was small, he was always looking for friends in the higher grades, by nature very sensitive, but hiding his sensitivity behind the guise of indifference And a hint of false arrogance. From his youth, he was a member of the Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed movement. When he was in the eleventh grade, after the Six-Day War, his class was perceived as an idea of settling in the Golan and strengthening small farms, and he believed in the need to settle the Golan Heights and strengthen the borders. Despite his eagerness to realize his ideas in this field, he completed his high school studies and later joined the core group of the Kibbutz Hameuhad boys and went to Kibbutz Re’im in the Negev, where he was drafted into the IDF in early 1969 and volunteered for the Israel Air Force . Before he enlisted, he did not think of coming to the air force, but when he received a summons to the corps he was seized by the idea and devoted himself to the matter with all his might. After basic training, he took courses in parachuting and flying courses, and invested his best energies in work and study. During the course of his studies he was serious and closed, and he did not relate to things with equanimity. He knew what responsibility he had and what was important for him, and wanted to do what was done to him in full, as he always did. After completing the course, he was assigned to the Skyhawk Squadron, as well as an Advanced Pilots course, a training course for physical training officers, and later a flight instructor course. After this course, he returned to the school as a pilot. In February 1971 he joined the career army and served there for almost three years. During his service in the Air Force, Srulik excelled in his exemplary precision, both in everyday life and in carrying out missions. He had a great deal of self-criticism, always underestimating his successes and never bragging about them. As a guide and commander, he demanded a great deal of his apprenticeship, but also helped and encouraged them and even fought the war of the apprentice who aspired to progress and succeed. He loved his service in the Corps because he found interest and pleasure in flying. During the Yom Kippur War, Srulik participated in the IAF’s great effort to stop the enemy. On the 7th of Tishrei 5740 (7.10.1973) he embarked on his second mission in the war on the Golan Heights. On the first day of the war, he went out to bomb AA batteries in Egypt, and on the day after Yom Kippur he waited all day for another mission, and when he went out to find out why he was not sent, he was ordered to go on a mission in the north.Zor Hoshenia. He went on a mission, where his plane was hit and crashed in front of Hoshenia. Squads that had searched the area as soon as the fighting was over had searched for him for eleven weeks until they found him not far from the wreckage of his plane, in an area covered with dense vegetation. Survived by his parents, brothers and sisters. After his fall, he was promoted to captain. In a letter of condolence to the bereaved family, his commander wrote: “Israel was one of the lions in the group, one of the veteran guides, a lover of the school, loved by everything from the last of the apprentices to all the school commanders. In his war against his students, he had to give them more and more opportunities to prove themselves, and he worked with dedication and with all his might, he came to the senior officer of the course, as a pilot, was a candidate for interception squadrons in the corps and we all believed in his ability, personality and most of all. Be a warrior – a warrior of the good, quiet, devoted, modest type and do what is done to him until the end. ” Kibbutz Hagoshrim published a pamphlet in his memory; His family erected a modest monument in place of his fall on the Golan Heights.
