Israel Prize For ‘Civilian Heroism’ Awarded To ‘Team Elhanan’ Who Fought Off Terrorists In Kibbutz Beeri

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The special 2024 Israel Prize for “Civilian Heroism” will be awarded to Menachem Kalmanson and Itiel Zohar, relatives who live in the Southern Hevron Hills community of Otniel, for their bravery in battle outside the Gaza Strip on October 7, Education Minister Yoav Kisch announced Tuesday, according to a Times Of Israel report.

The two family members were led by Kalmanson’s older brother Elhanan, and were dubbed “Team Elhanan.” Elhanan Kalmanson later fell in the battle with Hamas terrorists at Kibbutz Be’eri. A nephew of the Kalmansons also fell in Gaza during the current war.

“Despite being told that they were not needed, they arrived at Kibbutz Be’eri and repeatedly entered the besieged kibbutz over the course of a number of hours, and in doing so, saved dozens of the residents of the kibbutz,” Kisch wrote on X.

“We are a nation of heroes; the winners are part of a long line of heroes who have risked their lies for the nation and its country, and we mustn’t forget it,” added the minister.

On October 7, as thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel, where they would kill nearly 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and take 253 hostages, Menachem Kalmanson and his brother Elhanan left their homes in Otniel and traveled to Be’eri, along with their nephew Itiel Zohar, to fend off the terrorists.

In the last house they entered, in the early hours of October 8, a terrorist shot and killed Elhanan.

Shlomit, widow of Elhanan Kalmanson, said of the decision to give her late husband’s brother and nephew the award: “I received the notification with mixed feelings — excitement, longing, and pride. Elhanan loved the country and he so deserves this prize.

“It’s his place in the nation of Israel’s chain of generations. On a personal level, he’s so missed,” the Ynet news site quoted the widow as saying.

In mid-February, the government announced that the traditional categories for the prize, the country’s highest civilian honor, would be canceled for 2024, and two new categories related to the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza would be awarded instead — “Societal Responsibility” for civic efforts and volunteering, and “Citizen Heroism” for civilian acts of bravery.

The prize will be awarded to six individuals whose actions “inspired unity and kindness, demonstrated extraordinary bravery, inspired enormous hope in Israel and contributed to the recovery after the terrible upheaval we experienced on October 7,” the statement said at the time.