Grieving father urges MKs to honor his son’s sacrifice by passing a strong, uncompromising Draft Law.
A moment of profound emotion swept through the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday when bereaved father Hagai Luber shared deeply personal news while urging lawmakers to advance a meaningful and enforceable Draft Law.
Luber revealed that just hours earlier, his daughter-in-law Aviya—widow of his fallen son Yonatan—became engaged. With both heartbreak and gratitude intertwined, he described attending “one of the happiest events of my life,” filled with dancing, singing, and renewed light after immense loss.
But the joy, he said, was accompanied by pain. “It was right for Aviya to remarry, and it is right that her two boys will have a father—but it was still difficult.” His words captured the complex reality of families rebuilding their lives while carrying the memory of loved ones who gave everything for Israel.
Turning to the MKs, Luber implored them to emulate Aviya’s strength: “Do the right thing even when it is hard. Advancing a real Draft Law, with real sanctions and meaningful benefits, is difficult—but it is right. And therefore you must legislate this law.”
Holding up a photograph of his son Yonatan, he reminded the committee of the moral clarity that guided his child’s life. “Look at him. This is the world of Torah. He learned Torah and understood that the Torah gives a clear directive: it is an obligation to go to the army—especially for Torah students. My son went to the army, and for him, it was a mitzvah.”
In a powerful symbolic gesture, Luber presented the photograph as a gift to committee chairman MK Boaz Bismuth, asking him to look upon Yonatan’s face whenever he hears claims that IDF service harms Torah. “Before repeating that lie in the media—remember my holy son. The world of Torah and the army are one and the same.”
His testimony left the room shaken, a reminder that behind every policy debate stands a family who has paid the ultimate price so that Israel lives.
