An Israeli navy reservist who was raised in Maryland was killed on Friday when anti-tank missile hearth struck his unit close to Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, the Israeli navy stated.
Omer Balva, 22, was among the many 360,000 reservists that the Israeli authorities has mobilized in an immense improve in its navy forces forward of an anticipated floor invasion of Gaza.
Mr. Balva was a employees sergeant within the 9203rd battalion of the Alexandroni Brigade, in keeping with the Israel Protection Forces.
He moved to Israel after graduating from highschool in Rockville, Md., in 2019 and was a scholar at Reichman College in Herzliya, Israel, the place he was finding out for a level in enterprise administration and economics.
Jonathan Missner stated his son Ethan had identified Mr. Balva since they had been each about 6 years outdated. Mr. Balva, he stated, was “solely jovial, solely smiling,” and made everybody round him snort, whether or not he was serving within the navy, working or spending time with family members.
He stated his household had final seen Mr. Balva whereas he was on trip in the USA earlier this month.
On Sunday, Mr. Missner and his household watched a livestream of Mr. Balva’s funeral in Israel.
Mr. Balva graduated from the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day College in Rockville, exterior Washington, in 2019. The varsity stated in an announcement on Instagram that Mr. Balva was “an unabashed advocate for the State of Israel.”
In a 2018 faculty presentation, Mr. Balva described his household’s lengthy historical past with Israel and stated that his dad and mom had moved to the USA in 1996 for enterprise causes. He wrote within the presentation that he hoped to maneuver to Israel as an grownup and to boost his kids there.
