More than 30,000 Israelis came out Wednesday to pay respects to an American-Israeli dual national who died fighting Hamas militants in Gaza over the weekend.
Sergeant Max Steinberg of California was one of two American members of the Israeli Defense Army. He joined the IDF in 2012 and at the time of his death lived in the Israeli city of Beersheba.
’Thank you for protecting our children, thank you for protecting our state, thank you for protecting the Jewish people, and thank you for showing us that a regular American boy from California can raise himself to the level of Jewish and Israeli hero,’ Rabbi Dov Lipman said during the memorial service, the Daily Mail reported Wednesday.
The 24-year-old, nicknamed “Little Dynamo” by his peers, joined Israel’s military after a trip to the country in 2012.
“He got there and felt a connection to Israel, saw that as a place he could live and be successful, and he went for it,” his brother Jake said, the Mail reported.
“The last thing he said to my husband was, ’Tell my mom I love her,’” his mother, Evie Steinberg, added.
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There are roughly 2,000 “lone soldiers” in Israel — American-Israelis with duel citizenship who also serve in the IDF, Marina Rozhansky, a spokeswoman at the Israel Consul General in Los Angeles, told the Mail.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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