‘My son gave his life to protect others, but Glastonbury cheered his killers’
As mourners filled their home, British Israelis Avi and Sam Rosenfeld were forced to confront a dark truth: Natan’s bravery was met not with honour in Britain, but hatred
When the FaceTime call connected, my heart almost stopped beating. Staring back at me from their home in Ra’anna, Israel, was Avi Rosenfeld, 60, and his wife, 50-year-old Sam – their eyes clouded with devastation.
We speak less than two weeks after their son Natan – a British-Israeli IDF soldier – was killed in an explosion while clearing an empty house in Kfar Jabalia in northern Gaza.
“He didn’t tell us a lot about what he was doing in the army,” Avi, an independent contractor, says solemnly. And to be honest, when he came home, we didn’t want to ask him. Every so often I would bribe him with a beer and burger, and we would sit and talk. But he was very humble. He didn’t boast about anything.”
Originally from Hendon, the close-knit Rosenfeld family made Aliyah 13 years ago when Natan was just seven years old.
Natan had been conscripted in April 2024 and had been serving as a combat engineer in Gaza since concluding his intensive training.
Details of his death are still classified. But the snippets we know prove Natan died a hero – his body acting as a shield to protect the lives of other soldiers.
“We were intensely proud of him when he joined the army,” Avi says. “The beautiful boys and girls who serve in the IDF defend Am Yisrael. They are what stands between us and the people who want to annihilate us.”
Natan’s parents claim his friends were everything to him.
And the glowing way in which they talk about him is a testament to what a mensch he was.
Mika Shooker, who spent her gap year with Natan, told Jewish News: “Natan was a boy who never stopped smiling. Whenever there were disagreements in the mechina, Natan would simply stop everyone, say something silly, and within seconds, the room would erupt in laughter. He brought out the best in those around him – not through grand gestures, but through his quiet, steady kindness and unwavering optimism.”
His close friend Eden described him as being “full of ambition and joy”. She added: “When he walked into a room, the room always lit up with his smile.”
Ben, his friend from the army, said: “He was the most loving and funniest guy I had ever met.”
Tragically the Rosenfelds were made to pay “a very heavy debt” for their right to live safely in the Jewish state.
Despite this, they have no regrets.
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world,” Avi says defiantly.
They remain intensely Zionistic, and both of their younger children remain keen to serve in the IDF.
“If you have one son who has been killed in the army, the IDF makes you sign a piece of paper which states you give permission for your other children to join kravi (combat unit),” Sam explains.
“Ze’evi (our 17-year-old son) has already asked me about this. He is desperate to join.”
Avi and Sam Rosenfeld were informed of their son’s death on June 29.
“A man, dressed in army uniform, very, very calmly and sort of slowly, said, “Are you the mum of Yisrael Rosenfeld?”
“They gave me his ID number, and it just… wasn’t really real,” she trails off.
The IDF told Sam that she mustn’t break the news to her husband over the phone. “She was super calm and just told me to come home,” Avi explains. “But when I walked in the house and saw my wife and the kids red-eyed and the three people standing there in military uniform, I knew immediately.
“One of the uniformed men walked over to me, and he hugged me. They were like angels. They were with us for the whole week of shiva. They were amazing. They were discreet and subtle, but they stuck to us like glue.”
Sam explains: “Straight away they wanted us to tell our family what had happened to Natan before they put out the public notice.
“They were asking us all of these questions, like what time we wanted to sit Shiva and what photos of Natan to use. I mean, you are literally, you’ve just been told this news, and then you sort of have to make all these decisions.
“They eventually put out the notice, and the minute they did, people started streaming through the door. From morning until night, the tent we sat Shiva in was packed to the brim with hundreds of people. It was unbelievable.
“Mothers of other fallen soldiers who had been killed six or eight months ago – people we didn’t know – would come just to be with us.
“And because Natan was an English speaker, his story affected a lot of Olim (new immigrants) and a lot of people in Ra’anna.”
Among those who visited the Rosenfelds while they sat shiva was Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
One day before Natan’s tragic death, Bob Vylan stood on the West Holts stage at Glastonbury and chanted: “Death, death to the IDF”.
To see their country of birth gripped by an ‘orgy of blind hatred’ has devastated Avi and Sam. “It would be hard to say anything to the thousands of festival-goers who participated in that chant,” Mr Rosenfeld admits.
“But if I had to tell them anything, I would say, ‘Please stop for a minute and stand on the side of truth. Seeing you all at Glastonbury, it was chilling, like a Nazi rally in 1936. It was hard to watch so many people filled with blind, misguided hate. I don’t want to be a dramatist or someone who scares people.
‘But I wouldn’t feel too comfortable walking around with a kippa in London. ‘I’m very worried by what I am seeing in my country of birth. English people are decent people. But the country has an enormous problem. Though I understand it’s not easy (for everyone) to leave.'”
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