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Maccabi Tel Aviv Honors Fallen Players, Supporters in Yom HaZikaron Tribute
by Shiryn Ghermezian
A Maccabi Tel Aviv player reading out the name of a fallen soldier and victim of terror. Photo: Screenshot.
The Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team on Tuesday commemorated former players and fans who fell while serving in the Israeli military or as victims of terrorism.
In a video tribute released in honor of Israel’s Memorial Day, Yom HaZikaron, current players and fans of the club recited the names of those killed, which were likewise published on the team’s official website. Fifteen players also used their Instagram platforms to share the stories of 15 former soldiers from the elite Egoz commando unit who died in service.
Maccabi Tel Aviv additionally published recollections about the late soldiers and terror victims that were written by their family and friends.
“We went to every game, in the rain, in the cold, and in the heat,” wrote Niv Gellert about his friend, Sgt. Ariel Harush. “Whether it is in Bloomfield [Stadium], Beersheba, or Acre. For us it was an unstoppable love. Even when we enlisted, we made sure to arrive to every game at the end of Shabbat, despite all the fatigue and family that really wanted us to be with them. We also chose the Maccabi Tel Aviv family … Today, going to games without you no longer feels the same. My dear friend, I miss you very much.”
On Nov. 15, 2017, roughly two months before his release from the Israel Defense Forces and about a week after he celebrated his 21st birthday, Ariel was killed during an army operational trip near Kibbutz Yiftach.
In another tribute, Maya Mor Yosef wrote about growing up with her friend and life-long Maccabi fan Shimi Ruimi — who was killed in a shooting attack in Tel Aviv on Jan. 1, 2016 — and how she still thinks about him when she goes to the team’s soccer games.
Watch Maccabi Tel Aviv’s tribute to fallen soldiers and terror victims in the video below.
