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Sgt.-Maj.
Yonatan Vermeulen
Dec 28, 2000 - Border Police Sgt.-Maj. Yonatan Vermeulen, 29, of Ben-Shemen was killed when called to dismantle a road-side bomb near the Sufa crossing in the Gaza Strip.
In a carefully-planned ambush, the terrorists apparently waited for soldiers and sappers to gather around the first bomb and then detonated a second bomb planted nearby, possibly by remote control, killing Vermeulen, the sapper, on the spot.
Yonatan Vermeulen, a Christian immigrant, was born in a small village in Holland. He came to Israel with his parents at age four after the Yom Kippur War, and grew up in Nahariya. When his parents returned to Holland 10 years ago, Yonatan chose to remain in Israel. He wrote to the Queen of the Netherlands requesting an exemption from service in the Dutch army, which was granted, because of his strong identificiation with Israel. He began his service in the IDF in 1993, and after completing his military service, joined the police anti-terror squad in 1996. Two years ago, he joined the Border Police sappers unit in the Gaza Strip.
To friends who didn't understand why he chose to risk his life, he said: "This is where I spent most of my life and this is where I belong. This is my home."
Yonatan is survived by his parents and two siblings.
He was buried in Kibbutz Hanita.
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