After years of delay, Israel establishes memorial for fallen Christian IDF soldiers
Jerusalem Institute of Justice helps bring recognition to bereaved Christian families
Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended the cornerstone-laying ceremony for a memorial honoring fallen members of Israel’s Christian community, which will be established in the Lavi Forest near the Golani Junction in northern Israel.
This is the first memorial to specifically honor fallen Christian IDF soldiers, primarily from the Aramaic and Arabic communities of Israel.
Work for the project first began in 2017, when Shadi Khalloul, a former IDF officer and founder of the Israeli Christian Aramaic Association (ICAA), petitioned then Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman for a memorial dedicated to Israel’s Christian soldiers.
The petition was submitted alongside the Bereaved Families Forum, led by Jaudat Salameh (Abu Rogeh), which sought a site to honor their fallen soldiers.
In Israel, military service is mandatory for Jewish citizens but not for the Arab community. Several members of the Christian community, particularly in Israel’s north, have voluntarily enlisted in the IDF, out of a sense of duty to the country and a desire to see the Christian community represented and defended.
Salameh, whose own son, Rogeh, was a fallen soldier, was one of those petitioning for this small community's sacrifice for their country to be recognized.
Khalloul originally envisioned the site being located near the historic Christian village of Bar’am. However, some in the community did not want the memorial in Bar’am, due to the forced displacement of the Christian community from the village during the conflict surrounding the War for Independence.
The Ministry of Defense later chose the site in the Lavi Forest, near the Golani Junction, a large intersection between Tiberias and the Haifa area. The junction is named after the IDF’s Golani Brigade, which has its own memorial and museum nearby.
However, after several years, amid a politically tumultuous period in Israel, work on the memorial stalled.
After some 12 years of working alongside members of our community to establish a memorial for fallen Christian IDF soldiers, the cornerstone was laid yesterday in Lavi Forest. The site was originally intended to be elsewhere—near our Christian village of Bar'am, given the… pic.twitter.com/x7OzqXhati
— Shadi khalloul שאדי ח'לול (@shadikhalloul) September 17, 2026
Recently, another former IDF officer, Ihab Shlayan, chairman of the Christian Voice Association and a lieutenant colonel in the reserves, brought the issue to the Jerusalem Institute of Justice (JIJ), requesting assistance to bring the project to fruition.
Today, the cornerstone was laid at Lavi Forest for a memorial honoring fallen members of Israel’s Christian community.
— Ihab Shlayan (@ihab_shlayan) September 16, 2026
After many years of effort, this is an important and emotional moment.
But history should be told accurately: this issue was raised for years, not only in… pic.twitter.com/v9LMGCJwNN
Tamar Stachel Devor, a representative from JIJ, said they gladly took on the task of working to get the memorial established, seeing it as a matter of “justice and recognition - recognizing people who chose to serve the State of Israel and paid the ultimate price, and recognizing the families who carry that loss.”
“These fallen soldiers deserve to be remembered with honor and dignity,” Stachel Devor said. “Their families deserve to know that their sacrifice is seen and that it matters to all of us.”
At the ceremony to dedicate the memorial, Netanyahu used the occasion to address accusations of mistreatment of minorities in Israel, in particular Christians.
“There is a false and absurd global campaign to portray Israel and the IDF, the most moral army in the world as perpetrators of war crimes and persecutors of minorities,” Netanyahu said. “Israel is the only place in the Middle East where the Christian community is flourishing and growing. Everywhere else, Christians are emigrating, persecuted or slaughtered.”
He said that Israel and its military are currently "facing a global attack" with troops "portrayed not only as perpetrators of war crimes" but also "as persecuting minorities."
Israel, Netanyahu noted, "is the only place in the Middle East where the Christian community flourishes and grows, the only one... That is why we came here today, to shatter that lie. We are shattering it through this very ceremony and through the very fact that we do not merely protect Christians, and I am referring specifically to the latest lie, Christians protect us! All of us, together.”
Shadi Khalloul thanked Netanyahu for attending the ceremony, and highlighted the difference between the situation of Christians in Israel compared to the neighboring countries.
“Christians in Israel are thriving while in Arab states are oppressed and live in fear,” Khalloul said. “I congratulate our community and send my condolences to the Christian families who lost their loved ones for the defense of Israel, together with their Jewish brothers.”
“Thanks to the state of Israel and all people involved in making our fallen soldiers being remembered and honored,” he added.
Tamar Stachel Devor said, “standing there with the families, there was a real feeling that something that had been missing for so many years was finally being corrected.”
“This place says to the families and to society as a whole: We see you. We remember your loved ones. Their sacrifice is part of the story of all of us.”
“We are deeply honored that the Jerusalem Institute of Justice was able to be part of this struggle and to stand with the families on the way to this important moment,” she added.
You might also like to read this:
