IDF Rabbinate’s Identification Unit Faces And Meets Historic Challenge

One year since Hamas’s Simchat Torah massacre, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Rabbinate’s casualty identification unit continues to grapple with one of its most significant challenges since its inception. (Civilian deaths are handled by the police and the general Rabbinate.) Public knowledge of the severe condition of many fallen soldiers, particularly those killed on October 7 – that many were unfortunately not buried for weeks or even months – raised pressing questions about identification procedures. In light of this, the IDF Rabbinate recognized the need to provide greater transparency with the public.

In a groundbreaking move, the IDF Rabbinate’s identification processes were unveiled for the first time since the war began. The setting was a conference on “Torah and Science” held at Machon Lev – Jerusalem College of Technology, where experts discussed various aspects of Jewish law and secular disciplines in relation to the ongoing war, such as genetic data collection from war casualties, fighting a Jewish war in light of international law, and more.

A dedicated session focused entirely on identifying war casualties, featuring representatives from the IDF Rabbinate’s Identification and Burial Unit, which operates in accordance with the policies set by Military Chief Rabbi Eyal Krim. They outlined the advanced methods employed to achieve an impressive 100 percent identification rate, even in the most challenging circumstances.

Statistics presented during the conference revealed the extraordinary scale of their efforts in the few months following October 7: over 5,000 DNA tests conducted, hundreds of dental X-rays examined, and more than 1,500 cases processed. For context, each DNA extraction takes five to six hours.

An additional, though rarely discussed, notable achievement focused on the living. Over 200 critically wounded soldiers unidentifiable upon their arrival at hospitals were successfully identified immediately using fingerprint analysis – success rates never seen in prior wars. One can only imagine the depth of relief this provides their families.

Reuven Bardogo, head of the Military Genomic Laboratory, noted that since the laboratory’s establishment after Operation Protective Edge (in 2014), numerous senior academics and researchers volunteered to support the military identification lab. Despite this, to meet their goal of enabling identification operations to continue around the clock, the unit had to train even more technicians from various professional backgrounds.

The conference highlighted the IDF Rabbinate’s remarkable successes, including identifying all casualties from the war, even those whose bodies were held captive by Hamas. An indispensable tool in this process has been the biometric database established in recent years. Chief Warrant Officer Yehoshua Ashkenazi, head of the IDF’s Fingerprint and Biometric Identification Unit, emphasized, “Without this database, we could not have quickly identified all the casualties.”

As a point of comparison, Ashkenazi pointed out that only 56 percent of casualties from 9/11 have been positively identified to date.

Lt. Col. Rabbi Professor Neria Gutel, head of the decision-making team in the IDF Rabbinate, explained the stringent requirements for confirming a casualty’s identity. “The Chief Military Rabbi, Rabbi Eyal Krim, mandates at least two means of identification, even though one is sufficient for absolute identification,” he noted.

Gutel elaborated that while each method – personal acquaintance, fingerprint analysis, dental X-ray, and DNA testing – can stand alone for identification, having two methods provides an extra layer of certainty. This requires experts from a variety of professions – dentists, forensic investigators, lawyers, rabbinical judges and more. “The decision of the team must withstand halachic, legal, and public scrutiny,” he said. “In circumstances where only one method was attainable, we had to justify our decisions in exhaustive examinations.”

As the conflict unfolds, the IDF’s identification unit remains dedicated to its critical mission, ensuring that every fallen soldier is accounted for and treated with dignity, even amidst the most trying circumstances.

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