Israeli scholar, 71, killed in Lebanon

Israel Defense Forces Maj. (res.) Ze’ev Erlich, 71, a renowned scholar and archaeological expert on the Land of Israel, was killed by Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, the Binyamin Regional Council announced on Wednesday evening.

“Jabo Erlich, 71, a reservist, joined IDF forces operating in Southern Lebanon. He was a prominent researcher in the field of research into the Land of Israel and its settlement,” the council confirmed in a statement.

Erlich, from the community of Ofra in the Binyamin region of central Samaria, is the oldest member of the IDF to be killed in the war that was initiated by Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 invasion of the northwestern Negev.

According to Israel’s Kan News public broadcaster, Erlich entered the Land of the Cedars as a civilian alongside IDF soldiers. The report said he was killed when terrorists opened fire at him at an archeological site.

A second IDF soldier, whose name was not immediately cleared for publication, was killed alongside Erlich, the military announced in a subsequent statement. Additionally, an officer of the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion was seriously wounded in the incident.

The Hezbollah terror attack was said to have taken place at a historic fortress roughly four miles from the Jewish state’s northern border. According to Channel 12‘s Amit Segal, who grew up with Erlich in Ofra, he was shot at the Shrine of the Prophet Shimon in the village of Shama.

Though Erlich was not active in reserve service, the IDF’s Personnel Directorate reportedly decided to recognize him as a fallen soldier.

A military official told JNS on Wednesday night that the circumstances surrounding his entry into Lebanon were being probed by the army.

“We are shocked by Jabo’s departure,” said Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Ganz, describing Erlich as “a man whose name was a symbol for knowledge and love of the land” and one of the founders of Ofra.

The Yesha Council, which represents the interests of the some 500,000 Israelis living in Judea and Samaria, eulogized the slain researcher as “one of the pillars of the settlement and the forefathers of the study of geography, archeology, and Jewish history in Judea and Samaria.

“For many years, he volunteered and greatly assisted soldiers in various sectors with recognizing the villages and sites,” it added. “We share in the great sorrow of his family, students and the entire Ofra family.”

For decades, Erlich held regular lectures for soldiers and officers of the Binyamin Brigade deployment area, who often granted him entry and protection to enter areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority.

In 2012, the IDF confirmed to Ynet that it “routinely receives requests for a security escort” to restricted sites in Judea and Samaria, including from Erlich. “Each request is examined in view of the current status while maintaining the security forces assignments,” it said at the time.