- October 22, 2024
- 10:12 pm
- Israel
David Bogdanovsky repatriated with his parents and sister Alina in 2014 from Donetsk (Ukraine). He studied at school, then at a religious boarding school in Kfar Hasidim. He was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces on August 10, 2022.
Sergeant David Bogdanovsky, 19 years old, from Haifa, a fighter of the 603rd engineer battalion of the Saar Megolan formation (7), fell on Saturday, December 23, 2023, in battle in the south of the Gaza Strip.
“Sergeant David Bogdanovsky, Sergeant Oral Bashan, Sergeant Gal Gershko and paramedic Sergeant Itamar Shemen were killed in an incident in which an RPG anti-tank missile hit an armored personnel carrier of the 603rd Combat Engineer Battalion. The APC attack was carried out using a missile fired on the outskirts of Khan Yunis.”
On October 7, 2024, when a ceremony was held at the cemetery to commemorate those killed on Black Saturday, David Bogdanovsky’s mother Yulia saw that someone had covered the monument over her son’s grave with a black rag.
She wrote about this in Facebook:
“I don’t have words to describe the humiliation I felt.
I thought that my David, who gave his life to the country, who loved the country for 9 years with all his heart, who really went into the army to protect me, his family and all of us, is no different from other guys and is not a second-rate person. I stood there and cried from resentment, frustration, misunderstanding. I didn't come up and take off that black rag because I respect the feelings of other parents. And I know what pain lives in every heart of a mother, father, sister and brother. I didn't want to make the ceremony a battlefield. I don't touch other children's monuments.
But who gave YOU the right to touch the holy?
The Ministry of Defense demanded that the family of soldier David Bogdanovsky, who fell in the Gaza war, remove the tombstone from the grave in a military cemetery because it depicts a Christian cross.. The family said they received a letter from the Department of Defense saying they must remove the Christian symbol from the gravestone by November 1st. David was buried at the end of the row near the fence of the military cemetery.
Chief Military Rabbi Brigadier General Eyal Karim decidedthat the cross that is inscribed on the tombstone deceased IDF soldier David Bogdanovsky, who fell in December 2023 in Khan Yunis, creates problems — “interferes with the burial of Jewish martyrs in this cemetery.”
More details in the interview for “כלבו חיפה” released on October 22, 2024, given by the soldier’s mother Julia (fragment):
When did opposition to the tombstone begin?
“It started the day we installed the headstone. There is a family that doesn’t want to see this.”
I understand that you installed the tombstone with the cross?
“Right. Not the army. The army put up a standard headstone, and we did it ourselves. Because they add all sorts of elements around the graves, and we decided that this was a place where my family and I could come to remember David and perpetuate his personality. That’s why we put up his photo and a cross.”
“When he entered Gaza, no one told him: 'You are a Christian, you do not need to enter Gaza.'”
The Bogdanovsky family lives in the Kiryat Eliezer area. David attended Dror Elementary School and was then sent to a religious school in the Kfar Hasidim youth village, where he studied until he was drafted into the army.
Yulia Bogdanovskaya talks about choosing a school:
“I chose this school because I had checked it out previously and thought it would be a good place for David. There were many male teachers there, which was very important for me at that moment, since David’s father was abroad and we were here alone. I visited the school and saw that it was a full-day boarding school and thought it would suit him.”
Did the school have any problems with the fact that David was not Jewish?
“No. They didn't talk about it at all. Even now, teachers cannot understand how such a situation with a tombstone could happen. The teachers say it's wrong that such a thing happened.”
Did David go through the process of conversion?
“No. But he became attached to the Jewish people and Israel and felt part of it. When the army oath took place, he swore on the New Testament, and not on the TANAKH, and that was normal. The commander specifically searched for the New Testament for a week so that all the soldiers would swear on the TANAKH, and David – on the New Testament. He told them: 'I want to swear on the New Testament,' and everyone knew that David was a Christian. Why did we put a cross on his tombstone? It's not because we go to church every week, no! But if he made the decision to swear on the New Testament, it was important to him – then that's who he was. And now I get a letter saying that I’m hurting the feelings of the families of the victims?”
What would David say if he were alive and saw all this?
“I thought about this too. I think if all the soldiers buried there stood up and saw this, they would say, 'What are you doing?' When he entered Gaza, no one told him: 'You are a Christian, you do not need to enter Gaza. You don't need to protect others.' In the armored personnel carrier, where he was with eight other people, some of whom died, there were both Jews and Christians. And it made no difference which of them had to protect whom. And now that they are buried in the same cemetery, it suddenly becomes a problem and bothers someone.”
Did David's army friends contact you when they found out about this?
“Yes. They also say that this is wrong. They are shocked. The commander of David's company also wrote to me that this was unfair. Everyone who communicates with me from the army is on my side. The mother of David’s friend, who died with him in an armored personnel carrier, also wrote to me that they are on my side and think this is wrong.”
“I will not remove the tombstone or move David’s grave.”
And if the incident at the cemetery wasn't painful enough, Julia received a letter from the Community Soldiers' Memorial Council, which gave her two difficult options – either remove the headstone by November 1, or move the grave to a plot for non-Jewish soldiers.
The letter said:
“Recently, several attempts have been made to meet with you regarding the removal of the added element on your son’s tombstone. This is due to appeals from families of victims whose relatives are buried next to your son, who stated that this additive offends their feelings and is contrary to Jewish law.
According to the rules of military cemeteries, “the tombstone may not contain images that are detrimental to the values of Israel, the security of the state, the respect of other people and their feelings, as well as symbols, photographs, drawings or other similar additions.” The rules also state that any additions require the approval of the competent authority. There is no need to talk about the religious and emotional sensitivity associated with the installation of such an element in a Jewish cemetery.”
The letter further stated that if Yulia does not make a decision by November 1, the authorities will be forced to independently remove the tombstone with the cross.
