The father of Sgt. Adir Tahar, who fell on October 7, told Channel 14 that Gazans tried to sell his son’s head for $10,000.
In an interview given to Channel 14’s show Now, David Tahar told the hosts about the journey he went on to bring his son’s remains home for burial.
David began by describing his son’s final moments in combat saying “His death was very very difficult.”
“They fired a rocket at him and 3 grenades, according to the autopsy I received his whole body was filled with shrapnel.”
“Unfortunately, his body was abused after his death,” continuing “The terrorists, they call them barbarians this is complimenting them, they just beheaded him and took his head back to Gaza with them.”
“Over the course of two and a half months, I turned the world upside down to try and understand where the head was.”
Interrupting him the host asks, “You received a body without a head?”
“I received a body without a head and I pleaded with the army to see the body, because, at a certain point, you lose faith in the army.”
“They tried to explain to me that I shouldn’t see it.”
“But I’m the type of dad who has to know everything about his kids.”
“Half an hour before the burial, the body arrived at Mount Herzel. My nephew and I were the only ones present. I opened the coffin, looked inside, and immediately understood what I was burying.”
“Could you identify him?” asks the host.
“It was not possible to identify him [physically], we had to identify him from the DNA test. At the funeral, I already knew I was burying a son who was missing an important part of his body. Then began the search for his missing body part.”
The search begins
“Every person I met for the next two months plus, I would ask for information. At the very least I could understand where it was.”
David watched as much footage from the aftermath of October 7 as possible to try and help understand what had happened to his son’s head. He eventually found the footage of his son, where he could see his son had been beheaded.
“Three weeks ago a miracle happened. I’m calling it a miracle because it is not something simple.”
“The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), through an interrogation with arrested terrorists, discovered that one of the terrorists had tried to sell his head.”
“He tried to sell a soldier’s head for $10,000. It’s simply a terrifying level of barbarity.”
“Special forces combined with armored brigades entered Gaza and in an ice cream store in Palestine Square, just so you understand where they put it. In a duffel bag, next to some of the terrorist’s documents and tennis balls, they found my son’s head.”
“Did they manage to return it?”
“They returned what remained after two and half months.”
“It appears to have undergone abuse there too.”
“We took the bones that remained, and they did a DNA and dental test to make sure it was really his head. I buried what remained in coordination with the Rabbinate.”
In his memory, his family wants to start a center in his name to help at-risk youth in Jerusalem, they have also begun the writing of a Torah scroll in his name.
Comments are closed.