Presidents visits families of Staff-Sgt. Dor Chaim Nini and Maj. Yochai Kalangel.
It is doubtful that any president of Israel had to pay as many condolence calls during his first half year in office as Israel’s tenth president Reuven Rivlin.
The president cut short his visit to New York in order to pay condolence calls on Friday to the families of Staff-Sgt. Dor Chaim Nini in Shtulim, and Maj. Yochai Kalangel in Elazar. The two soldiers were killed last Wednesday when their patrol vehicle was hit by an anti-tank missile fired into Israel across the northern border.
During his first month in office, Rivlin traveled the length and breadth of the country visiting the families of soldiers killed in Operation Preventive Edge. He also visited wounded soldiers in hospital and went kibbutzim, moshavim, towns and cities along the Gaza Strip to inspect damage caused by missiles and to offer words of encouragement to the residents.
It was an extremely traumatic beginning for his presidency – and to some extent, it has continued.
Rivlin was greatly distressed when news of events on the northern border reached him and he immediately instructed his staff to do what they could to reschedule his flight home.