obituaries »

Obituaries from page 69

‘Friend Of Israel’ Nancy Reagan

JNS.org

A

merican
Jewish and
Israeli politi-
cians remembered
former U.S. first lady
Nancy Reagan, who
died on March 6 of
congestive heart fail-
ure at age 94, as a stal-
wart friend of Israel.
Nancy Reagan
Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said in
a statement, “I remember Nancy as a
noble woman who supported President
Reagan and stood by his side. She will
be remembered as a great friend of the
State of Israel.”
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin,
describing her as “President Ronald
Reagan’s dedicated wife, a true part-

ner in the president’s
unique leadership,
including his strong
friendship with Israel.
“Today I bow my
head together, with the
citizens of the U.S.
“During her time as
first lady, [she] would
illuminate the White
House with a big smile
and open heart,” added
Rivlin. “I extend my
most sincere condo-
lences to the whole
Reagan family, her friends and all citi-
zens of the United States.”
“You didn’t have to be a Reagan
Republican to admire and respect
Nancy Reagan,” tweeted Sen. Chuck
Schumer (D-N.Y.). “She was a tower
of strength, unafraid to chart her own
course.”

*

Widow Says
Husband
Was Fighter,
Not Victim

Times of Israel

T

he widow of an off-duty soldier
stabbed to death in a West Bank
supermarket nearly three weeks
ago is protesting a Defense Ministry deci-
sion to categorize him as a terror victim,
rather than as a soldier who fell in battle.
Yael Weissman said Sunday that the
ministry had concluded a probe of the
Feb. 18 attack and ruled that her hus-
band, Tuvia Yanai Weissman, 21, would
be described as a terror victim rather
than a fallen soldier on his gravestone
at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl military
cemetery.
According to her account, the couple
and their baby were on the other side of
the supermarket when two Palestinian
teenagers entered the store and began

Tuvia Yanai Weissman with wife, Yael,
and 4-month-old daughter

stabbing shoppers. Weissman, who was
not armed, ran to help and was killed
by one of the stabbers.
Following his death, the army said
off-duty soldiers would begin taking
their weapons home on leave, a decision
hailed by Weissman, who maintained
she didn’t blame the army for his death
although her husband’s request to
take his gun home with him had been
denied.
Weissman told Army Radio on
Monday that Israel “must give him this
last honor, that the truth be displayed
on his gravestone.”

*

2064580

70 March 10 • 2016