Hours after landing on an emergency flight from the United States, Israeli Ambassador to Washington Dr. Yechiel Leiter arrived Thursday morning outside the Intensive Care Unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. Leiter went straight to the bedside of his son, Neriah Dov ben Chana Leiter, who was critically wounded in Wednesday’s vehicular ramming terror attack at the Bell Checkpoint on Route 443. In an emotional, pain-filled briefing, the ambassador revealed that surgeons succeeded in stabilizing his son overnight, but emphasized that an acute threat to his life remains, calling on the people of Israel to unite in prayer.
1+For the Leiter family, this terror attack tears open a wound that never fully healed. Three years ago, the ambassador lost his eldest son, Maj. (res.) Moshe Yedidyah Leiter, a former Shaldag team commander and company commander in the 551st Reserve Brigade, who fell during fierce combat in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. “This experience is different from the night I received the dreaded knock on the door,” Leiter said in anguish. “Moshe was killed instantly; there was no possibility to attempt to save his life, and we were not allowed to gather around his bedside. This time, despite the unbearable anxiety and the terror that I would land in Israel without hope, we have a chance to fight for Neriah’s life.”
The bitter news reached the ambassador in New York immediately after he finished a live broadcast interview on the American network Newsmax. Upon receiving confirmation that his son was the critically wounded reservist, Leiter boarded the first available flight home. Leiter shared that throughout the transatlantic flight, he was flooded with messages of support from across the globe: “Hundreds of synagogues and even Christian churches that I visited sent an outpouring of messages. Millions of people are praying for him. We need a miracle, and the prayers of the people of Israel can help.” The father highlighted his son’s extraordinary dedication: despite losing his brother—which legally exempted him from further military service—Neriah insisted on answering every call-up, completing hundreds of days of reserve duty across multiple active fronts since October 7.
Embracing his son Noam, who stood by his side, the ambassador hailed the present cohort as “the greatest generation the Jewish people has ever known.” Addressing the broader diplomatic and security battle against terror in Judea and Samaria, Leiter condemned international leaders who obscure the truth, referencing the murder of Netanel Shoukroun on the eve of Yom Kippur: “The war here is over the right of Jews to live in this land. The sole objective of terrorism is to uproot us from here, and everything else is empty rhetoric.”
1+Neriah Dov Leiter continues to receive intensive critical care from leading trauma surgeons and neurospecialists at Shaare Zedek. The family stated that they draw immense strength from the public’s embrace, renewing their plea to the public in Israel and around the world to continue reciting Psalms for the full recovery of Neriah Dov ben Chana