Supreme Court rejected the petition to recognize Alon Shamriz as a fallen IDF soldier: "Sorry we could not do justice"
The judges explained that Shamriz, who escaped from captivity and was mistakenly shot by IDF soldiers, will not be recognized as a fallen soldier because he "does not meet the formal criterion for classification". Justice Grosskopf noted that "he performed all the heroic actions while he was not in military service". Yonatan Shamriz: "My brother was drafted on 7/10 - this is a spit in the face, he was abandoned again by the state he loved".
The Supreme Court justices rejected the petition of the Shamriz family to recognize their son Alon, who was mistakenly shot by IDF soldiers in the Gaza Strip, as a fallen IDF soldier. The parents, Avi and Dikla Shamriz, filed the petition in February 2024, demanding that the army be compelled to recognize Alon as a fallen IDF soldier. The petition was filed after the head of the Manpower Directorate and the Chief of Staff rejected the family's request.
"Despite the deep understanding of the petitioners' pain and our participation in their grief over the heavy loss, we did not find that the decision falls outside the provisions of the law, and therefore we are unable to grant the requested remedies," wrote Justices David Mintz, Yael Willner, and Ofer Grosskopf. "It should be clarified that the rejection of the petition reflects a legal decision only. The legal front has its own limitations, and it does not in any way detract from the proper appreciation of the conduct of the late Alon, who displayed exceptional and unusual courage under unbearable circumstances."
Justice Grosskopf wrote that "the petition before us poses a difficult and heartbreaking challenge, as it is filed on behalf of a person who acted in a manner worthy of all respect and appreciation — the late Alon Lulu Shamriz, who, thanks to his training as a combat soldier in an elite unit, managed to escape courageously from his captors and heroically lead his friends to the threshold of freedom. However, all these heroic actions he performed while he was not in military service, and for this reason, he does not meet the formal criterion for classification as a fallen IDF soldier."
"We are sorry, but we cannot order the military authorities to act otherwise than according to the formal test adopted by the law," he added. "As a court committed to the law of the state, it is our duty to act according to the law. As human beings, who recognize the good and noble value, we ask to apologize to the petitioners that we are unable to do justice to the memory of the late Alon."
Yonatan Shamriz, Alon's brother, who has been fighting since the massacre for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry, reacted with anger to the Supreme Court's decision. "I see this decision as a spit in the face of the family and the causing of additional heavy grief without justification. This decision is a political decision from beginning to end. My hero brother Alon was drafted on the morning of 7.10 for reserve duty in the Yahalom unit. From the moment he read the message, he is considered drafted. There are precedents. Today, Alon was abandoned once again by the state he loved so much."
