Zechariah Baumel, known as Zachary Baumel, was an American-Israeli soldier in the Israel Defense Forces.
12 Facts About Zechariah Baumel
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Zechariah Baumel was born on November 17,1960, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Yona and Miriam Baumel.
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Zechariah Baumel studied at a state religious school and advanced to Midreshiat No'am High School in Pardes Hanna.
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Zechariah Baumel served as a tank commander in the Israel Defense Forces.
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Close to the end of his military service Zechariah Baumel was involved in the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in the 1982 Lebanon War.
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Yet as late as 2005, the elder Zechariah Baumel met with people in Syria who said they had visited his son that year.
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In Israel, the elder Zechariah Baumel maintained a high public profile to keep his son's plight before the nation and the military.
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Zechariah Baumel joined many protests and demonstrations, briefly engaged in a hunger strike, and was openly critical of the way his family was being treated by the IDF.
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In 2003 Zechariah Baumel fought against the IDF's decision to declare his son dead.
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When Zechariah Baumel's grave was opened, the searchers immediately noticed that the body was dressed in an IDF uniform and tzitzit.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Moscow to meet with Putin, and then received Zechariah Baumel's remains in a ceremony at the Russian defense ministry, where he was presented with Zechariah Baumel's uniform and military boots.
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Zechariah Baumel was interred at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on April 4,2019, in the presence of Netanyahu and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.