‘We Have a Covenant of Blood’: Netzah Yehuda Mourns 5 Fallen Soldiers
After the death of five Netzah Yehuda soldiers in Gaza, Haredi sacrifice in Israel’s defense is no longer abstract. For MK Moshe Tur-Paz and Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer, this is a turning point, of blood, courage, and national unity.
The night of July 7 will be remembered as the deadliest for the Haredi Netzah Yehuda Battalion since the war began. Five young soldiers—Binyamin Asulin, Noam Musgadian, Meir Shimon Amar, Moshe Nissim Frech, and Moshe Shmuel Noll—were killed in an ambush near Beit Hanoun. Fourteen others were wounded in what the Israel Defense Forces later described as a “layered” and premeditated attack involving multiple roadside bombs and heavy gunfire from surrounding ruins. For the battalion and the community it represents, the loss is seismic.
We have a covenant of blood
Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer, chairman of the Netzah Yehuda organization, said the shock was both institutional and deeply personal. “We have a covenant of blood,” he told The Media Line. “What’s going on in the army, in the war, in Israel, isn’t about them. It’s about us just as much.”
The organization responded within hours. “Our rabbinic staff and organizational staff were occupied arranging who could be present at the funeral, giving support to the families, ensuring that the shiva (the seven-day Jewish mourning period) would be arranged … everything we could do on behalf of the fallen soldiers and their families,” Pfeffer explained. “At the same time, we also have a duty to the battalion that continues fighting in Gaza. They’re sticking to the mission … with great courage and motivation.”
Pfeffer’s team also visited the wounded and coordinated logistics for their care. He described this dual responsibility—supporting front-line soldiers while tending to grieving families—as part of the new normal. “It just took a lot of mobilization in this emergency time. And today we’re recalibrating and reorganizing to make sure that we’re putting our staff to the most effective use of this time.”
They are the leaders before the camp. They are showing their own people and the rest of Israel that being Haredi and serving in the army can be done.
In an interview with The Media Line, MK Moshe Tur-Paz described the fallen soldiers as “symbols.” A former Israel Defense Forces officer and one of the founders of Haredi units in Givati and the Paratroopers Brigade, Tur-Paz had met soldiers from Netzah Yehuda earlier that day in the Knesset. “I told them that I see them not only as the protectors of the people of Israel, but also as a symbol,” he said. “They are the leaders before the camp. They are showing their own people and the rest of Israel that being Haredi and serving in the army can be done.”
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For Tur-Paz, the personal dimension of this tragedy is inseparable from its national implications. “The fact that five soldiers from the Netzah Yehuda Haredi unit were killed this week in Gaza gave, I think, all sides in Israel another perspective,” he said. “So there are Haredi soldiers, not enough, and they are part of fighting, and sadly enough, they’re also part of the terrible price we’re actually giving for our freedom.”
Both men also acknowledged the broader challenge of limited enlistment. Pfeffer stated it plainly: “The Haredi sacrifice has been far smaller than that of other sectors within Israeli society.” He admitted there is a reason for that. “In Haredi society, the education is not to take army service as something obvious. On the contrary, the default is not going to the army. These boys chose to step up.”
Tur-Paz expressed similar concerns. “As we speak, 14,000 Haredi boys graduated from what they call high school, the yeshivas (religious seminaries). Less than 10% will serve in the army, whilst in the non-religious community, we’re at almost 90%,” he explained. “If two years of war haven’t made the change, maybe we should be much stricter with those who are not part of the defending of Israel.”
That tension between admiration and frustration defines the current moment. Pfeffer, who speaks on behalf of a growing number of religious soldiers, believes this tragedy may at least elevate the tone of the national conversation. “There’s a way in which we should be able to disagree,” he said. “Unfortunately, even on the day before this tragic event, there were certain seasoned politicians in Israel who expressed themselves in a very inappropriate way.”
For Pfeffer, respectful discourse is not a luxury—it is a necessity. “Yes, of course, there’s an issue of Haredi participation; of course, we need more Haredi in the IDF. But you have to give respect. You have to speak in a way that gives respect, not just to the Haredi soldiers who paid with their lives, but also to the different sectors in Israel.”
Tur-Paz argued that recognition must go hand in hand with reform. “We can’t bear any longer the fact that we will have to be maximum strict with those who don’t serve,” he said. “Serving in the army won’t be seen as a privilege, but as something that everybody does. And that’s a change that we’re actually working on now.”
These boys are leading the charge of this process. They are the ones who are inspiring the other boys to come after them
Still, both men insist this moment cannot be reduced to policy debates alone. For Pfeffer, the legacy of the fallen will grow over time. “These boys are leading the charge of this process. They are the ones who are inspiring the other boys to come after them.”
Tur-Paz reflected on the spiritual depth of their sacrifice. “These youngsters have shown that they are both part of the Torah world and the working world. They have given their lives to defend the people of Israel,” he said.
Then he shared a story: “People asked a Haredi rabbi, ‘We want to go to the graves of righteous people.’ And he told them, ‘You don’t have to go far. Just cross the road and go to Mount Herzl. That’s where the real righteous today are buried. Those who gave their lives to defend the people of Israel are the righteous of today.’”
It is this message of valor, inclusion, and painful unity that now echoes from the halls of the Knesset to the mourning homes of Beit Shemesh and Haifa. Whether Israeli society chooses to listen and act remains an open question.
For now, the sacrifice of five young Haredi soldiers has made that choice impossible to ignore.
