A new bill that would grant official status to bereaved siblings, authored by Likud MK Michal Shir, has been presented to the Knesset.
Shir explained Tuesday that currently, brothers and sisters of the fallen have no official standing. After a soldier is killed or a civilian dies in a terrorist attack, the victim's parents, spouse, and children receive notification. Siblings, however, do not. Siblings also do not receive official invitations to memorial ceremonies.
Shir noted that in cases in which bereaved siblings of fallen IDF soldiers require financial assistance to pay for grief counseling, they do not receive it automatically, although they can apply for help.
If the Knesset passes Shir's bill, the Defense Ministry and the IDF will be required to notify the brothers and sisters of any fallen soldier, police officer, border police officer, or member of Israel's other security forces, in addition to their parents, widow/er, and children. These instructions would also apply in cases of civilians who are killed in terrorist attacks.
The bill also proposes making the Defense Ministry legally responsible for paying the cost of psychological treatment for bereaved siblings who need it, as well as grants that would cover up to half the cost of a B.A. degree for bereaved siblings.
Eli Dabi, founder of Lenetzach Ahi, a group that supports bereaved siblings, and an active member of the Yad Labanim organization, said that "until now, bereaved siblings were invisible to the government ministries."
Dabi said that siblings receive all their information about their loss from their grieving parents, and if their parents are not alive, no one notifies them.
