About the Association

The association was created to cherish the memory of the 13 Mesayaat 7020 soldiers who lost their lives during Operation "Defensive Shield" in Jenin in April 2002. Operation "Defensive Shield" was a large-scale military operation undertaken by the IDF against Palestinian terrorists.

At the beginning of the millennium, following the Oslo Accords, the IDF withdrew from the cities of the West Bank in order to hand security control of the area to the young Palestinian Authority. This created a great deal of freedom for the various terrorist organisations to stockpile and manufacture weapons and explosive charges, which were smuggled in and used against Israeli civilians throughout the country, and mainly in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

On 27 March 2002, a suicide bombing occurred at the Park Hotel in Netanya in the middle of the Passover Seder — often referred to as the "Seder Night Massacre". Thirty Israelis were murdered and around 160 were injured. That attack capped a year in which roughly 1,000 Israelis — elderly people, women and children among them — were murdered in terror attacks. It was considered a pivotal turning point in the Israeli government's attitude towards the capabilities of the Palestinian Authority.

A few days after the Park Hotel attack, the IDF launched the "Defensive Shield" Operation to eliminate the raging terrorism.

In early April 2002, the Nachshon (7020) Battalion of the 5th Brigade was called, together with the whole brigade, to take the refugee camp in Jenin, to strike the terrorists and to destroy the terror infrastructure. This battalion was comprised entirely of reserve soldiers, who reported for duty within a few days out of a sense of mission and an understanding of the importance of the operation.

The Nachshon (7020) reserve battalion of the 5th Brigade was tasked with encircling the Jenin refugee camp and enabling the brigade's forces to take it. After the encirclement was complete and the brigade's forces had entered the camp, the battalion was ordered to join the fighting inside in order to defeat the terrorists and destroy the terror infrastructure in the camp. After several days of fighting the camp was subdued and all the terrorists were killed or captured. The 5th Brigade and the forces under its command (battalions from Nahal and Golani, and special units) lost 23 fighters and commanders.

The Auxiliary Company, under the command of Major Oded Golomb of blessed memory, fought inside the refugee camp shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the battalion's forces and carried out its missions while taking parts of the camp in dense, built-up fighting, house to house and alley to alley.

On 9 April 2002 (the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day), during the fighting in the Jenin refugee camp, in the early morning hours, a platoon-sized force of the Auxiliary Company advanced deep into the camp towards a house that dominated one of the alleys. Terrorists inside the house identified the force in an exposed position within the alley and opened fire on it. The company commander and several fighters were hit in the opening burst, and a face-to-face battle began in a confined, exposed area within the alleys. In the battle that developed, rescue operations were carried out under crossfire directed at the forces from several positions. Many wounded were evacuated alive under withering fire absorbed by the rescuers, who did not give up and returned again and again in an attempt to rescue their comrades. The Company's soldiers and commanders fought with great courage and daring to rescue their friends and complete their mission. By the end of the battle the Company had killed most of the terrorists, repelled the rest and enabled the evacuation of the wounded and the dead. The Auxiliary Company lost 13 fighters in the battle: the company commander, Oded; three platoon commanders, Eyal, Dror and Kobi; and nine more fighters — Avner, Eyal, Tiran, Dani, Yoram, Menashe, Amit, Eyal and Ronen.

After the battle, the Company was awarded the Central Command Chief's Citation as a unit for its conduct in Operation Defensive Shield, for acts of heroism in attempting to rescue casualties under fire, and for defeating the enemy with fortitude and dedication to its mission. Individual citations were awarded to two of the fighters who were killed, Menashe and Kobi, and a further citation was awarded to Shneor, who rescued casualties under fire at genuine risk to his life.

The association marks Operation Defensive Shield, which changed the security situation in the State of Israel and represented a sharp turning point in the ongoing effort against Palestinian terrorism — from a year in which about a thousand civilians and soldiers were murdered, to a situation in which terrorism barely succeeds in harming the country's citizens.

Out of appreciation and recognition of the enormous loss suffered by the families, out of recognition of the importance of the operation and its results, of the value of comradeship and heroism, and in memory of their comrades in arms who gave their lives for the security of the country's citizens, the Company's veterans founded the 7020 Auxiliary Company Association and began working to commemorate their friends and the battle.

The association was founded in 2017 and began working to restore a small water pool fed by a spring near the road to Jerusalem. Archaeological finds were discovered close to the spring and were treated some years ago by the Israel Antiquities Authority. The association's aspiration is that the spring will become a pleasant spot for families hiking in the Jerusalem area, alongside the telling of the Company's story in the battle at Jenin.

The members of the association, the Company, the 7020 Battalion and the 5th Brigade hope that this commemoration project will honour the memory of the fallen and strengthen the bereaved families, in the knowledge that their loved ones and their memory are engraved deep in our hearts.