Uri Ilan ( he, אורי אילן, 17 February 1935 – 13 January 1955) was an Israeli soldier who committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

in a

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

n prison, after being captured in a covert operation on the

Golan Heights The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...

. He became a symbol of courage and patriotism in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Biography

Early life

Ilan was born in 1935 in

kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

Gan Shmuel Gan Shmuel ( he, גַּן שְׁמוּאֵל, ''lit.'' Shmuel's Garden) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located in Haifa District, east of Hadera, it falls under the jurisdiction of Menashe Regional Council. In it had a population of . The kibbu ...

. His mother was

Fayge Ilanit Fayge Ilanit (née Hindes) ( he, פייגה אילנית; 7 February 1909 – 14 July 2002) was a Zionism, Zionist activist and Israeli politician. She was a granddaughter of Rabbi Shimon Shkop and mother of Israel Defense Forces, IDF soldier Uri ...

, a

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the

First Knesset Constituent Assembly elections were held in newly independent Israel on 25 January 1949. Voter turnout was 86.9%. Two days after its first meeting on 14 February 1949, legislators voted to change the name of the body to the Knesset (Hebrew: כ ...

. He joined the

Golani Brigade The 1st "Golani" Brigade ( he, חֲטִיבַת גּוֹלָנִי) is an Israeli military infantry brigade that is subordinated to the 36th Division and traditionally associated with the Northern Command. It is one of the five infantry brigade ...

in 1953. He was the great-grandson of the famed Talmudic scholar Rabbi

Shimon Shkop Shimon Yehuda Shkop ( he, שמעון שקופ; 1860 – October 22, 1939) was a rosh yeshiva (dean) of the Yeshiva of Telshe and then of Yeshiva Shaar HaTorah of Grodno, and a Talmid Chacham (Talmudic scholar). Early life Shkop was born in T ...

Capture and suicide

According to the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

, he was captured by the Syrians on December 8, 1954, near a Syrian post in the

along with four soldiers in his team. The soldiers were taken into custody in

Quneitra Quneitra (also Al Qunaytirah, Qunaitira, or Kuneitra; ar, ٱلْقُنَيْطِرَة or ٱلْقُنَيطْرَة, ''al-Qunayṭrah'' or ''al-Qunayṭirah'' ) is the largely destroyed and abandoned capital of the Quneitra Governorate in sout ...

and sent to a

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

prison for interrogation. In the Syrian prison, they were sent to separate cells and

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

d. Believing his comrades to have been killed, as falsely claimed by his captors in an attempt to weaken morale, Ilan hanged himself on 13 January 1955 in his prison cell, using a rope made from the fabric of the mattress cover. In his clothing, Ilan hid nine notes addressed to his homeland, Israel, and his family. The most famous is a scrap of paper on which he wrote the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

words "לא בגדתי. התאבדתי" (''"Lo bagadeti, hitabadeti"'') which means: "I did not betray. I committed suicide," that is to say, he chose to end his own life so as not to reveal military secrets under torture. He was buried on 14 January 1955 in Kibbutz Gan Shmuel.

Return to Israel

On 29 March 1956 the four Israeli soldiers who were captured along with Uri Ilan were returned to Israel in exchange for 40 Syrian soldiers. Ilan's suicide and the notes he left behind set off a great outpouring of grief in Israel, but also a sense of national pride.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ilan, Uri 1935 births 1955 suicides Kibbutzniks Israeli soldiers Israeli torture victims Israeli military personnel who committed suicide Suicides in Syria Israeli people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in Syrian detention People who committed suicide in prison custody Israeli people imprisoned abroad Torture in Syria Israeli prisoners of war 20th-century Israeli military personnel Prisoners of war held by Syria 1955 deaths Suicides by hanging