A young lady commander of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) was awarded Israel’s highest military honor after saving her entire team from a terrorist ambush attack near the Egyptian border.
Captain Or Ben-Yehuda was leading the IDF Caracal Battalion stationed at the Israeli–Egyptian border when three suspicious vehicles containing two dozen terrorists came and attacked their position.
She and a driver received the first barrage of fire when they came to check on the vehicles, both sustaining gunshot wounds from the attack.
Despite their bullet wounds, Ben-Yehuda managed to get on a radio and call for backup, prompting the immediate response of IDF forces.
She also managed to return several magazine fires against the attackers and positioned her men to fight back while backup forces are coming their way.
Due to Ben-Yehuda’s leadership and bravery, she and her men survived the ambush.
Captain Ben-Yehuda was conferred the Medal of Valor at a special awards ceremony held after she recovered from injuries.
Her medal was presented by her mother, Emma Dina Ben-Yehuda, herself a decorated IDF officer who served in the Yom Kippur War and an active social worker serving families of IDF soldiers killed in the line of duty.
