A garden in memory of a paratrooper officer killed in the Second Lebanon War has in recent years become the scene of repeated attacks on the national symbol – the Israeli flag. Residents in the neighborhood report that the flags placed in the garden are repeatedly removed, sometimes even on the eve of IDF Martyrs' Day and Independence Day, without the Haifa Municipality taking action to return them in time. This local story raises poignant questions about memory, identity and public responsibility.
A garden in memory of Yiftach Schreier – a memory created through private effort
The garden in the Kabirim neighborhood was dedicated three years after the fall of the late Yiftach Schreier, an officer in the 101st Battalion of the Paratroopers Brigade, who was killed in battle in the village of Maron a-Ras in Lebanon on July 26, 2006. Yiftach was 21 years old when he died, and grew up not far from where the garden is now located - on Raanan Street, near Nahal Sheach. He had always played basketball there, which is why his family, led by his father, the late Ami Schreier, chose to establish the garden there in his memory.
A memorial wall and a rock on which words of remembrance were engraved
The commemoration was not done solely through municipal means. The Schreier family raised donations of approximately 800 shekels themselves, with the assistance of the Haifa Foundation, the Federation of Jewish Communities in North America, friends, neighbors and other donors. The garden includes play equipment, seating areas, a memorial wall and a rock on which words of remembrance were engraved. At the garden's inauguration, Yiftach's brothers called on the establishment to take responsibility for commemorating the fallen IDF soldiers, and argued that it is not the role of a bereaved family to beg and fund a commemoration project – but rather the role of the state and the local authority.
The Trail and the Ceremony – a Neighborhood Tradition of Remembrance
A walking path also named after Yiftach runs alongside the garden, circling the length of the garden. Every year, on Memorial Day for the Fallen of Israel's Armed Forces, a ceremony is held in his memory, and sometimes a group walk along the path. The path, the garden, and the monuments within it have become a magnet for neighborhood residents over the years, many of whom knew Yiftach or his family personally.
A recurring nuisance: Israeli flags are repeatedly removed from the garden
Someone removes the flags and throws them in the trash.
According to Noam Nossen, who lives near the garden, the phenomenon of removing Israeli flags from the garden has been recurring for several years. "I pass by there almost every day. The municipality placed four flags within the garden, in addition to a flag in the memorial corner - but again and again I find that they disappear. Sometimes it happens weeks before Memorial Day, sometimes right on the eve of the holiday. It's shocking," says Nossen.
He said he alerted the municipality several times, including in recent days, but received no response. "I called several times. I explained that we are before Memorial Day and Independence Day and the park is without flags. This time they are not even bothering to put them back," he says. "It hasn't happened once. It's a phenomenon."
Feeling of insult – "As if we were in exile"
The damage to the flags in the weeks before Memorial Day is not seen simply as an aesthetic or technical flaw. Nossen emphasizes the emotional and symbolic aspect of the act: "This is a garden in memory of a soldier who fell in battle. The moment the flags are removed, especially during this period, it's like spitting in the face of the family and all of us. It's as if we're in exile, in some place where anti-Semites are tearing up Israeli flags. It's a very difficult feeling."
He notes that this is not a one-time incident, but an ongoing pattern of actions that no one seems to be trying to stop. "If someone were to damage a monument in the center of the Carmel, or tear down a flag at the military cemetery, you would see the entire municipality there. So why is it that when it happens in the Kabirim neighborhood, it goes unnoticed?"
The call to the municipality – to return the flags and preserve the commemoration
According to Nossen, all he is asking for is a simple intervention from the authorities – to reposition the flags, maintain basic maintenance of the garden, and demonstrate a presence that respects the memory of the fallen. “We didn’t ask for too much. It’s five flags. But they symbolize something – they symbolize the country, the memory, the honor. We in the neighborhood are doing everything we can, but there are things the municipality needs to take responsibility for.”
Other residents in the neighborhood join in, claiming that the repeated neglect and damage to the memorial creates a sense of alienation from the authorities. "When it comes to the memory of a fallen soldier, the state should be there – even if it's just to re-hang a flag."
A renewed call for institutional regulation of commemoration
And what is the role of the authorities in relation to the memorial sites?
Beyond the specific case of the Yiftach Schreier Garden, the fundamental question of the role of the state and local authorities in commemorating Israel's fallen soldiers once again arises. Already at the time of the garden's inauguration, the Schreier family cried out that it was unreasonable that bereaved families would be required to raise donations and wage bureaucratic battles to obtain a basic memorial. More than fifteen years later, it seems that this call has still not been answered.
Caring for neighborhood gardens and memorial projects requires coordination, resources, and ongoing responsibility—not just on Memorial Day, but throughout the year. The Yiftach Memorial Garden, like many other memorial sites, is a living site—one where children play, neighbors visit, and residents seek to preserve the dignity of memory. The removal of the flags is, perhaps, just a symptom of a broader problem—the need for a mechanism to handle memory in an orderly, respectful, and appropriate manner.
Many thanks!! To Michal and Lahi for publishing the article, immediately after it the five flags that were taken down were returned and flowers were also planted in the memorial corner and the garden was cleaned and arranged in honor of the BS Hogiv ceremony on Memorial Day.
It is our duty to remember and honor the heroes who rightfully deserve it. The people of Israel live, and the State of Israel flourishes.
Everyone is invited to visit the garden and the Yiftach Trail that leaves the garden and connects to Nahal Sheach and the spring.
As a resident of this wonderful and mixed neighborhood, and also as someone who has known Yiftach personally since childhood, Yiftach was in favor of coexistence and had friends from all over the neighborhood, including Arabs. This garden is being filmed and the Haifa Municipality has the option to find the culprits and punish them. How few give a bad name to the entire neighborhood, a neighborhood that is mostly in favor of coexistence, conscription into the IDF, and a lot of appreciation for Yiftach and the Schreier family. It's a shame that this is the incompetence of those responsible.
That's exactly the part you always don't understand.
Coexistence is one-sided, guess which one..
Indeed, "coexistence" exists as long as the fragile routine exists, a slight deviation to one side or the other, "coexistence" is thrust in our faces. Ask the members of the kibbutzim who lived in this false coexistence, until October 7, 2023.
You cannot compare coexistence between citizens of the country and citizens of a neighboring, enemy country.
Why don't they put cameras in such a sacred place? Why should the parents themselves chase after criminals who humiliate this wonderful boy? It's really not possible. There are no cameras in such places
It's unbelievable that Zipporah and Dudrey are right, and maybe the extreme leftists think they are still in exile, maybe even on Kristallnacht they said it's not bad, a few hooligans broke something and it will pass, just don't get in the way. Or they are not really in favor of human dignity and nationhood (Jews in this case, and the State of Israel)
They should make poles for the flags that are protected like electricity poles against electrocution, with 'spikes' at the bottom of the pole and an internal cable that raises and lowers the flag for replacement purposes when it tears. So that it will not be possible to raise or lower the flag except by an inspector from the municipality.
So true, it's sad that our reality in the neighborhood is sad and indicates that there is a need for dialogue as there has been until now.
Mr. Nossen is right. I also feel that there are neighborhoods in Haifa where the feeling is like being in exile.
And when you look at the migration from northern villages and cities to Haifa to neighborhoods that were once completely uninvolved, the situation is worrying.
Everyone hides in the media behind empty slogans like partnership and coexistence and gives a platform to rare voices like Yosef Haddad, who is apparently popular among his own people, like the sympathy that Ofer Kassif enjoys among us.
And there is no one who will present to the public the idea that in the most optimistic scenario, we are on the way to the abyss of a binational state, and that in the north and south we are already in the minority, and that we must reach joint agreements on separating territories/states into two peoples.
Where are the cowardly leftists who will hold a demonstration in Kababir to protest the lowering of the flags and the disparagement of Yiftach Schreier the hero?
The late Yiftach Schreier, a hero of Israel, may his memory be blessed, he and the other holy martyrs who fell for the defense of our country, the security of our people, and the imminent victory over the accursed enemies.
May we be worthy of the courage of our heroes!