‘Country came before family’ – British family mourns paratrooper

A British-Israeli family is mourning the loss of paratrooper Sgt-Major Jonathan Deitch, 34, who was killed by a sniper in a firefight in Khan Yunis on 7 December.

Jonathan’s father, Leonard, is from Manchester and his mother, Karen, from London.

Speaking to Jewish News, Mrs Deitch said the family had been in Malta celebrating her mother’s 90th birthday when news broke of the 7 October attacks by Hamas.

“Jonathan tried to get a flight [from Malta] but it was impossible,” she said. But her son was determined to volunteer for duty, on one condition.

“He wanted to serve with the four friends with whom he had joined the army in 2007. He called them and said, ‘Either none of us goes, or we all go.’ And they decided they would all go.”

His mother said that to get to Israel, Jonathan flew back to London. “He didn’t have a ticket but he said, I don’t care, I’ll just go to the airport, and even if I have to sit in the air hostess’s chair, I’ll do that.” He did in fact return to Israel sitting in the seat of an El Al crew member.

Sgt-Major Deitch and his four close friends were involved in the same firefight, but he was the only one killed. The Deitch family asked for the four young men to have temporary service leave so they could to carry his coffin at his funeral, in Tel Aviv. It was attended by “thousands” of mourners.

Mrs Deitch said the family was astonished by the presence of so many people, from her son’s kindergarten teachers to those he had worked with at the Ministry of Defence 15 years ago. “He was always smiling and would talk to everyone,” his mother said — “and hundreds of his neighbours in Harish [the city in the Haifa district] came, to remember him and the thing he used to say: ‘It will be all right.’”

Jonathan and his wife Moran had a two-year-old son, Ari. The paratrooper also had two sisters.

All five friends had gone surfing, a favourite pursuit, before going back into uniform, Mrs Deitch said. “All the kids were in the Sea Scouts and we hope eventually to have a boat in Jonathan’s name, and perhaps a race run by the Sea Scouts in his name.”

Leonard Deitch, who had been a paratrooper himself, said his son was “a hero of Israel and the Jewish people”. Mrs Deitch, not far from tears, added: “His country came before his family. But we understood it, because we are fighting for our lives.”