Evangelical IDF Soldier Falls Defending Israel Against Hamas in Gaza
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – A young German Evangelical Christian has been killed fighting Hamas in Gaza as a volunteer combat soldier with the Israeli Defense Forces, the Jerusalem Post reports. A member of the Maglan Special Forces unit of the IDF’s Nahal Brigade, 20 year-old Sgt.-Maj. Urija Bayer died on Sunday after being critically wounded in the southern Gaza Strip on December 14.
Urija’s family originates from the Black Forest region of Germany near Stuttgart, although he and his four siblings – Rachel, Odelia, Zuriel, and Eliaw – were all born in Israel, JPost reports.
In addition to his siblings, Urija is survived by his parents, Nelli and Gideon, who run Zedakah, a German-funded nursing home charity for Holocaust survivors in the Western Galilee city of Ma’alot.
As Germans gentiles, the Bayers have not been entitled to Israeli citizenship – but the whole family has volunteered to serve in the IDF in combat positions, JPost reports. Two of Urija’s brothers are currently still fighting in Gaza.
German Christian Juergen Buehler, president of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, told JPost that there are around 100 Evangelical Christian volunteers in the IDF including two of his sons. “Most of these children were born here,” Buehler told JPost. “They live here. Israel is their home. They all grew up in Zionist households, and they believe in the case for the State of Israel. They feel they are fighting for the right thing now,” Buehler said.
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