IDF Reservist Who Identified October 7 Victims Found Dead in Suspected Suicide
An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reservist was found dead Sunday night in his home in southern Israel.
The soldier, Master Sgt. (res.) Ariel Meir Taman had previously served in the Israel Defense Forces’ military rabbinate, where he was tasked with identifying the bodies of fallen soldiers and civilians following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terror attack.
Hebrew media outlets reported the death as a suspected suicide. The IDF said military police had opened an investigation, with findings to be transferred to the military prosecutor’s office.
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Taman, who came from an ultra-Orthodox background, was married and a father of four. His sister, Bat El, described him to Ynet as “the purest, most thoughtful, considerate, inclusive boy. The best father in the world. The most perfect husband in the world.”
The ongoing war on several fronts has led to an increase in suicides among soldiers, and the risk is likely to grow after the conclusion of the conflict.
In a Media Line article by Maayan Hoffman, After the Battlefield: Suicide Becomes Leading Threat to Israeli Soldiers, Yaron Edel, co-founder and former CEO of Helem Club, said, ‘When the war ends, the sense of unity and purpose will end too. Suicide ideation will get stronger and stronger. We are about to hear about more and more cases of suicide.’
In Gabriel Colodro’s article, Israeli Soldiers’ Suicides Fall Between the Cracks — Just 1,000 Psychiatrists Struggle to Fill the Gap, Professor Eyal Fruchter, former Head of the Mental Health Department in the IDF and current Medical Director of Israel’s Collective Action for Resilience (ICAR), identified the transition from military to civilian life as critical: “When the civilian world is not in charge of you yet, and the military world is not in charge of you anymore. That’s a big crack that needs to be solved.”
With suicide rates rising among returning combat soldiers, professionals, support services, and intervention programs are mobilizing to meet the mental health challenge, working to ease the transition back to the civilian world and, ultimately, saving lives.
