Lone Soldier From New Jersey Killed in Israel Grenade Blast
JERUSALEM — An American from New Jersey serving in the Israeli military was killed along with another IDF soldier when a grenade one of the soldiers was carrying exploded.
The American-born lone soldier killed in the Sunday morning accident has been namedby the IDF as Sgt. Shlomo Rindenow, 20, a lone soldier from New Jersey who lived in Kibbutz Sde Yoav. The other dead soldier, who reportedly was holding the grenade when it exploded, has been identified as Sgt. 1st Class Husam Tafish, 24, a reservist from the Druze village of Beit Jann in northern Israel.
Three other soldiers were injured in the explosion, which occurred near Majdal Shams, a Druze village located near Mount Hermon.
The army said it is investigating the incident and that it is not clear why the soldier was holding a grenade. The soldiers were part of the 601 Asaf Battalion of the Combat Engineering Corps.
The Times of Israel reported that Ridenow is one of five brothers who moved to Israeli from Passaic, New Jersey, to volunteer in the Israel Defense Forces. He moved from Passaic to Israel two years ago and spent a year volunteering with a search and rescue organization in Israel, his brother, Jeffrey Tower, told the Times of Israel. Another brother reportedly is currently serving in a paratroopers unit.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Jewish students, alumni decry ‘weaponization of antisemitism’ across country
-
Fast Forward Brooklyn event with Itamar Ben-Gvir cancelled days before Israeli far-right minister’s US trip
-
Fast Forward Marco Rubio sits down with Michael Benz, Jewish former Trump official with an antisemitic online persona
-
Fast Forward Eyeing a new opportunity, Jewish settlers are positioning themselves on the Gaza border
Most Popular
- 1
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 2
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
- 3
Politics Meet America’s potential first Jewish second family: Josh Shapiro, Lori, and their 4 kids
- 4
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Jewish students, alumni decry ‘weaponization of antisemitism’ across country
-
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history
-
Opinion Why can Harvard stand up to Trump? Because it didn’t give in to pro-Palestinian student protests
-
Culture How an Israeli dance company shaped a Catholic school boy’s life
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.