A Hamas terrorist admitted to Israeli interrogators that he tried to sell the decapitated head of an IDF soldier for $10,000. That soldier was the son of David Tahar of Jerusalem.
His son, Sgt. Adir Tahar, 19, died on the day of the Hamas invasion on Oct. 7 while defending an IDF post on the border of the Gaza Strip.
David Tahar would end up burying his son twice—first without the head and the second time after the head was recovered following a two-and-a-half-month effort.
The father describes the head’s recovery as a “miracle.”
Before Tahar buried his son the first time, he insisted, over the objections of the army, on seeing the body. When he opened the coffin, he saw that the head was missing.
The body was identified through DNA tests, his son’s dog tags and some items that were in his uniform’s pockets, he explained to Channel 14 on Wednesday.
After the funeral, Tahar went on a mission to find out what happened to the head. Where had it gone?
The breakthrough came when investigators of the Israeli Security Agency, also known as Shabak or the Shin Bet, interrogated two Hamas terrorists who had been captured. One of them admitted to trying to sell the head for $10,000.
Tahar said that to call them barbarians is a “compliment” compared to what they really are.
The information obtained by the Shin Bet started in motion a search by a select IDF unit backed up by an armored brigade. They located Adir’s head in a freezer in an ice cream shop in Gaza City. It was in a bag that also contained tennis balls and terrorist documents.
Adir, who served in the elite Golani Infantry Brigade’s 13th Battalion, fought bravely on Oct. 7. Though outnumbered, he and 18 comrades fought off hundreds of terrorists for more than an hour, killing an untold number.
Terrorists fired an anti-tank missile at Adir and also three grenades. “His body was filled with shrapnel,” his father said. After that, they decapitated him.
Adir was well-liked by fellow soldiers and officers alike, an unusual thing, an officer told his father. “It’s hard to be loved both by the soldiers and by the officers. Adir was like that,” the officer said.
To keep Adir’s memory alive, his father is setting up a center to help at-risk children from turning to a life of crime. “It was Adir’s way—to bring together and help those who were less fortunate,” he said.
