Foreign fallen soldier is posthumously awarded Israeli citizenship

Interior Minister Moshe Arbel recently awarded an honorary citizenship certificate to the family of Valentin Eli Ghnassia, a 22-year-old French national who served as a volunteer lone soldier in the IDF and was killed in battle October 7. 

In November, the Knesset passed a law that allows honorary Israeli citizenship to be granted to foreign volunteers killed while fighting in Israel’s military and security forces.

The law allows the interior minister to grant honorary citizenship in order to  "honor the memory of martyrs of Israel, who enlisted in the army or the security forces in order to protect the people and the homeland even though they were not citizens of the state.”

Ghnassia, born in France to a secular Jewish family, dreamed of becoming an Israeli citizen and moved to Israel in 2022. He enlisted in the IDF as a lone soldier and was only a few weeks away from completing his army service at the time of his death. 

A soldier's heroic sacrifice 

When Hamas terrorists attacked southern Israel on October 7, Ghnassia sacrificed his life to defend Kibbutz Be’eri.

He fought against the terrorists for eight hours on the frontlines in Kibbutz Be’eri, defending the lives of its residents and his fellow soldiers. Ghnassia was laid to rest on October 12 at Mount Herzl, where hundreds attended his funeral. 

Interior Minister Moshe Arbel posthumously awarded the honorary citizenship to Ghnassia at a ceremony which was attended by Population Authority Director General Eyal Sisso, Education Committee Chairman MK Yossi Taib, and the family of the late Ghnassia.

"Our commitment as a country to remember and cherish the heroes who gave their lives for the State of Israel is reflected in the law to grant honorary citizenship to IDF martyrs who have not yet completed the immigration process and fell in defense of the homeland,” Arbel stated at the ceremony. 

“The Israeli government bows its head in honor and memory of Valentin Eli Ghnassia and embraces the family on this day with the awarding of the Israeli identity card to the hero of Israel. Am Yisrael Chai!”.