132: Wartime Diaries - Omer Ohana
Israel Story
Israel Story
4.8 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 31 December 2023
⏱️ 27 minutes
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Summary
The war has brought many new people into the limelight: For nearly three months we've been hearing countless stories of casualties, hostages, survivors and family members, many of whom have entered our hearts and never left. In some cases we feel like we’ve gotten to know these unsung heroes personally. One of the first big stories of the war, in that initial crazy week after October 7th, was that of 30-year-old Sagi Golan from Herzliya - a decorated officer in an anti-terrorism unit, who was killed in action in Be’eri in the early hours of October 8th. His story made headlines because Sagi was supposed to have married his partner, Omer Ohana, two weeks later, and his death brought to the fore - once again - the matter of the army and LGBTQ rights. Though the IDF has recognized same-sex partners of fallen soldiers as being eligible for full financial and emotional support since the mid-1990s, the matter had never been enshrined in law. So in the weeks after Sagi’s death, Omer led a successful campaign to legally secure the rights of same-sex and common law partners of fallen soldiers.
The end song is Zachiti Le'ehov ("I Won The Privilege to Love") by Ivri Lider.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I mean, the military, they did acknowledge common partners, but they did that as a grace. |
| 0:10.3 | The law mentioned a man and a wife. |
| 0:15.8 | So by the law, I'm not equal. |
| 0:19.2 | By the law, they shouldn't consider me. |
| 0:23.4 | A widower. |
| 0:24.4 | A widower. |
| 0:25.5 | And it was very clear to me that this is the next wall I need to take down. |
| 0:31.1 | We need to change that. |
| 0:34.1 | Hey, listeners, it's Mishi. |
| 0:37.0 | So this is our final episode of 2023, a challenging and tragic year, which has seen so much |
| 0:44.8 | anger and violence and pain. |
| 0:48.8 | For us here at Israel's story, it's been an incredibly intense year, as we've had to adapt |
| 0:53.7 | and reinvent ourselves in order |
| 0:55.9 | to produce stories that give a sense of what's going on all around us. We're now in the final, |
| 1:01.8 | final stretch of our end-of-year listener drive, and we're hoping not only to reach our fundraising |
| 1:07.4 | goal, but actually to surpass it. So if you haven't yet contributed, and you |
| 1:13.6 | do feel that Israel Story has been there for you and add something important to your life, |
| 1:18.6 | I really hope you take a moment, even right now, to go to our website, IsraelStory.org, |
| 1:26.6 | and donate. Okay. So the war has, sadly, brought many new |
| 1:33.6 | people into the limelight. We've heard stories of casualties and hostages and survivors and |
| 1:40.3 | family members, and many of those stories have entered our hearts and never left. |
| 1:46.8 | In some cases, we feel like we've gotten to know the heroes personally. |
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