‘We chose life, and by choosing life, we chose Tal’, says IDF widowed mother of two

Two weeks before 7 October 2023, Amitai was born, a younger brother to the one-year old Hallely, and a second child to Eliana Bogen and Tal Movshovitz, a captain in the IDF reserves. 

Amitai “didn’t see Tal as much as Hallely did” but he “is aware of the fact that Tal is dead. He doesn’t understand yet what happened, or how it happened, because he’s very small. Slowly, slowly, he is understanding that a family is made up of an ‘abba‘ and an ‘imma‘, and he’s starting to realise that he doesn’t have one of those.”

Captain Tal Movshovitz was killed on 16 June 2025, while fighting Hamas in Khan Younis. Originally from Reut, he worked for Israel’s Shin Bet security service. He and Eliana were together for nine years; married for seven, building their life and young family side by side. Born and raised in Beit Shemesh, Eliana has been left to navigate an unimaginable loss, while raising two young children. As one can imagine, she describes how the war “has become a very, very big part of our day-to-day life.”

In two weeks, she is flying to the US to help raise money and awareness for IDF Widows and Orphans, “so people understand how amazing the organisation is and how much it supports us.”

The women the charity represents are some of Israel’s most important and still largely unheard voices, offering deeply personal perspectives on loss, resilience and the lasting impact of the war on families.

Eliana explains: “Financially they look after us and they give us a huge support network that gives us the ability to give our children what they need.”

Having those connections, means “I don’t have to worry about how I’m going to help my children. It’s one worry less because I know that whatever I need, I can just contact them, and they’ll help me and support me in any way they can.”

As someone “who lives here and loves my country”, three years after 7 October,  she feels “that that we’re slowly, slowly, rising from it. We’re not there just yet, but we’re still fighting the war, and we’re still looking after each other, and we’re still being supported from all fronts. We’re all still here, as none of us have left, which says a lot.”

The support, she says, gives her a sense of purpose. Its reassuring to know “that whenever me or my children are ready to join the camps (a safe environment for children while their mothers receive therapeutic support, guidance and opportunities to connect with other widowed mothers) or activities, they’ll just say ‘no problem’ and they’ll do whatever they need to make sure that we take part.”

Her family is originally from across Edgware, Hendon and Finchley in north London; “both my parents and all our of family and friends and my parents’ friends made aliyah together. They wanted me and my siblings to have a better life and to live in Israel and live in a country that’s ours.”

“And yes”, she adds, “they still believe it today, even though they buried their son-in-law and my brother serves, and still serves.”

As for remembrance of a husband and father, Eliana says she and their children “chose life, and by choosing life, we chose Tal”.

Whilst she appreciates the support from the wider diaspora, she’s “glad that people don’t understand what we’re going through. I wouldn’t want you to understand what we’re going through. I don’t think anyone should have to understand what we’re going through, not as a country, and not as widows and orphans and siblings.”

It doesn’t, she adds “mean you have to make aliyah and live in Israel and serve in the army. It doesn’t mean that you have to understand what it’s like to bury your husband or your brother or your son. But to support is something that strengthens us. Like at the beginning of the war when we got huge bags of stuff from America and England that we could just give our soldiers in Gaza, give our soldiers in Lebanon.

“That was a big thing that we could just give them the best that they could have so that they could survive the war. It’s taking part from afar, but making a big difference in what goes on here. We’re a very small country, so anyone from around who can support and take part in any way they think is the right way to take part makes a big difference to how we we win the war here.”

• Founded in 1991, The IDF Widows & Orphans Organization represents and supports more than 18,000 widows, widowers, and orphans nationwide. Since 7 October 2023, its work has expanded significantly, including 364 new widows and widowers, among them 48 pregnant widows, and 912 new orphans.