Meitar buries a soldier son

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Today I let myself cry, for the first time this war.
It was inevitable when the command car  drove by carrying a native son of Meitar  in a coffin with a wreath on it.

Residents lined the streets along the funeral route from the entrance of Meitar all the way to the outlying  cemetery.
A human chain of solidarity to show our respect to the mourning family.

Our small town has a small cemetery with no actual parking lot.
So people trekked on foot in the hot afternoon sun all the way to the cemetery.
Soldiers came.

And Scouts came.
All Meitar's youth movements came walking.

A staggering total of 20,000 people attended the funeral, despite the threat of being exposed to possible rocket fire.

Captain Liad Lavi, 22, was shot during a firefight between a Hamas cell and Liad's Paratroopers  unit.

He leaves parents and six brothers.

The Times of Israel liveblog reports his mother's parting words:

“In our last conversations, you said you didn’t want to stay in the army, because the higher you’re promoted, the more the connection with soldiers lessens, and this you didn’t want,” his mother, Drora, says in the eulogy.
“I have so much to tell the world about you, and to you personally. All of your actions were done modestly. You took on responsibility beyond what is required, but you didn’t forget that you must take care of your mother, and you were willing to fight the world for me.”

There is also a photo of Liad there, at timestamp 18:52.

The Jerusalem Post also has a report.
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And so it continues.
Just this afternoon four soldiers were killed in a mortar attack inside Israel, just across the border with Gaza; and five soldiers died defending Kibbutz Nahal Oz against terrorists who infiltrated Israel through their accursed attack tunnels. 
The total of fallen soldiers has jumped to 53. 
You can see there is a lot to cry about.
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)
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