WhatsappThe IDF reservist seriously wounded in Wednesday’s terrorist car-ramming attack near Route 443 has been identified as Neria Leiter, the son of Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter.
According to Israeli authorities, the terrorist accelerated his vehicle toward Israeli forces operating at a checkpoint near Beit Horon, striking Leiter, who was serving alongside a police officer. Security forces opened fire and killed the attacker. Leiter was evacuated to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem in serious condition.
For the Leiter family, this is another devastating chapter in a story already marked by enormous sacrifice.
Neria’s older brother, Maj. (res.) Moshe Yedidya Leiter, was killed fighting Hamas in northern Gaza on November 10, 2023. Moshe, a father of six who was training to become a doctor, was serving as a reserve company commander when he fell in battle.
Yet even after losing his brother, Neria continued putting on the IDF uniform.
Since October 7, he has served hundreds of days of reserve duty on multiple fronts, according to his father. He could have stepped away after his family’s loss. Instead, he continued serving and defending his country.
Now the Leiter family is again waiting beside the hospital bed of a son who went out to defend Israel and did not return home unharmed.
Ambassador Leiter thanked the soldiers and medical teams fighting to save his son and asked the Jewish people to pray for Neria Dov ben Chana.
“I believe in the power of prayer, and I believe that when the people of Israel unite, miracles happen,” he wrote. “Neria needs a miracle.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also joined the prayers, telling Ambassador Leiter: “We are all with you.”
One family. Two sons who answered the call to defend Israel.
One already paid the ultimate price.
Now an entire nation is praying that his brother comes home.
