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| “Better To Die Than Enlist!” Nu! |
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| Sections along Highway 4 have also been shut down due to the protests,
and police have been working to maintain order as haredi rioters yelled
insults including "Nazis," "terrorists," and "butchers." Haredi demonstrators against the haredi draft law threw bottles at police and assaulted them, forcing Jerusalem traffic to grind to a halt on Wednesday. Hundreds of protestors blocked the roads near Chords Bridge with signs saying "Enlistment = Genocide," "Death before conscription," and "War on the draft law." |
Concerns deepen over military’s mental health system after series of soldier suicides
As lawmakers demand transparency from the IDF, experts urge deeper understanding of war’s psychological toll on troops
A string of suicides among Israeli soldiers over less than two weeks this July has reignited concerns over the military’s mental health system, with experts warning that the war’s prolonged psychological toll is pushing troops past their limits.
The first case to draw national attention this month was that of Daniel Edri, a reservist who died by suicide on July 5 after struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from his combat service in Gaza and Lebanon.
His mother, Sigal Edri, told the Ynet news site that Daniel would describe vivid flashbacks — seeing flames, smelling bodies — and often awoke in the middle of the night in a panic, convinced he was back on the battlefield. In his final days, he spoke openly about ending his life, fearing that living with PTSD would be unbearable.
In the days that followed, two additional IDF soldiers were found dead in separate incidents of suspected suicide — one on July 9 at a base in southern Israel, and another on July 14 at a base in the north.
On July 15, Cpl. Dan Phillipson, a paratrooper in training, was seriously wounded in an apparent attempt to end his life at a training base in southern Israel. Phillipson, a lone soldier from Norway who had moved to Israel a year ago to enlist, was hospitalized but ultimately succumbed to his injuries on Sunday.
Dr. Leah Shelef, who served as a mental health officer in the IDF for 20 years and researches the field of suicide among soldiers and reservists, told The Times of Israel that this isn’t the first time the military has faced a sudden spike in suicides.
“Suicides have a contagious effect,” she said. “There have been months in the past in which three soldiers died by suicide in close succession.”
Suicide data sparks debate
The most recent wave of tragedies prompted nine members of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to issue a formal letter, demanding an urgent discussion on the issue and warning that the IDF’s current approach risks eroding public trust and failing vulnerable soldiers in their time of need.
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