Master Sgt. (res.) Alexander Filin, 29, from Haifa, whose name was cleared for publication Thursday morning after he fell in combat in southern Lebanon, left behind an extraordinary story of immigration, meaningful military service, and deep commitment to the State of Israel.
Filin was killed by an IED explosion during an operational activity in the village of al-Taybeh in southern Lebanon. Several other soldiers were wounded in the incident, including officers and reservists. The IDF is continuing to investigate the circumstances of the incident.
About 14 years ago, Filin immigrated alone from Ukraine to Israel through the Naale program. He studied at the Aloney Yitzhak boarding school and later moved to Ra’anana. In a 2018 interview with the local paper Tzomet HaSharon, after being selected as a Presidential Award of Excellence recipient, he spoke about the difficulties he experienced as a new immigrant and his desire to integrate into Israeli society and the IDF.
“Because I’m an immigrant from Ukraine, they wouldn’t let me enlist in an elite unit,” he said at the time. “I didn’t have good Hebrew and I also didn’t have security clearance, so I chose to enlist in Nahal.” Despite the challenges, he served as a combat soldier and sniper in the Nahal Brigade.
In that interview, Filin revealed a significant operational experience from his military service. According to him, during an incident at the Nablus checkpoint, a terrorist tried to attack his fellow soldier. “I shot him and basically neutralized him, and that’s how I saved my friend’s life,” he said. “You deal with things that aren’t simple in the IDF and you don’t think about the outside. We’re protecting the citizens and the state.”
About being selected for the Presidential Award of Excellence, he said then: “It’s a very high honor. Not everyone gets it, so apparently they saw that I’m doing good things.”
Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav eulogized Filin, saying that “Alexander answered the call when summoned, left his daily routine and his loved ones and went out to defend the security of the State of Israel and its citizens. He is part of a generation of women and men willing to bear the burden and sacrifice themselves for all of us out of a sense of mission, responsibility, and love of the land.”