The battle is over, the injury remains — and the state is washing its hands of it

A soldier wounded in body during service and who later passes away as a result of that injury is recognized as a fallen IDF soldier. However, when the injury is mental, and the soldier takes his own life after discharge due to trauma experienced during service, the law does not recognize him as a fallen IDF soldier, even when there is a clear causal link between the service and his death.

This is one of the legal and public absurdities that have arisen in the wake of the Iron Swords war. At a time when the state recognizes that post-trauma has become one of the central costs of the war, it fails to complete the sequence of responsibility towards those whose mental injury overwhelmed them after they took off their uniforms.

Data illustrates the scale of the crisis. The Rehabilitation Department of the Ministry of Defense is currently treating about 26,200 war wounded, with 65% dealing with mental distress or post-trauma. The Ministry of Defense estimates that by 2028, the department will be treating about 100,000 IDF disabled veterans, of whom about 50,000 are dealing with mental injury.

Post-trauma can become a risk factor for suicide. According to data from the Knesset Research and Information Center, in 2024, 272 suicide attempts were documented among soldiers. More recent data points to 279 suicide attempts between January 2024 and July 2025. This is without counting the reservists who took their own lives as a result of military service.

In a petition filed by the Jerusalem Institute of Justice and the Battle Diamonds Forum, the petitioners sought to correct this distortion. The Supreme Court rejected the petition but clarified that this is an issue the legislator must regulate. At the same time, the panel established a principled ruling:

"A mental injury is no less than a physical injury and must be seen as an injury equivalent in every respect."

The state invests billions of shekels in treating the mentally wounded, recognizing that post-trauma is a war injury. It is difficult to justify a situation in which the state washes its hands of responsibility when the injury leads to the death of the soldier. Someone who took his own life due to the difficult scenes he experienced while defending the state is not considered a fallen IDF soldier, and his family is not recognized as a bereaved family.

The upcoming election campaign is an opportunity to correct this failure. Whoever talks about equality in the burden must also talk about equality in responsibility. Recognizing the soldiers who passed away as a result of their mental injury is the fulfillment of the moral, legal, and national duty of the state towards those who bore the price of the war long after the battle ended.

Guy Akoka is a lawyer at the Jerusalem Institute of Justice.