Evangelical Soldier Killed in Combat in Gaza

The IDF announced on Monday that Sgt. First Class Urija Bayer, a 20-year-old Maglan Commando Brigade soldier, died of wounds sustained in fighting in the southern Gaza Strip. He suffered a head injury on Thursday and the doctors had to pronounce him dead on Sunday.

Urija was an Evangelical Christian who volunteered with the IDF. His family released the following statement:

“It is with great sadness that we have to announce that our beloved Urija Bayer has left us and is with our Lord Jesus the Messiah.”

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plan for peace and not for evil, to give you future and hope” Jermiah 29:11

“We are thankful for the prayers and love we receive”

The funeral will take place on Tuesday 19/12/23 at the Ma’alot military cemetery.

Bayer was from Ma’alot Tarshiha, where his family runs Bet Eliezer, a kosher old age home for Holocaust survivors. Bet Eliezer is run entirely by Christian volunteers from Europe, who live in the facility with the residents.

The home was founded by Bayer’s grandparents, Hans and Crystal Bayer, who came to Israel from the Black Forest region of Germany in the late 1960s and wanted to atone for their country’s sins. They established Beth El guest house in Shavei Zion, a free guesthouse for Holocaust survivors in Nahariya.

All of Urija’s siblings (Rachel, Odelia, Zuriel, and Eliaw) serve in the IDF. Zuriel and Eliaw are currently serving in Gaza.

Urija left behind his parents, Gideon and Nili, a brother and two sisters.

“He believed in what he was doing deeply,” his uncle said. “On Sunday, at the hospital, I met a friend from his unit who was also injured, and he said that Urija was the strongest person in the team, both physically and mentally.”

Micha Bayer, a member of the Evangelical church, added that “Urija was a quiet and modest boy, but full of joy, and it was fun to be with him. His brother Tzuriel and his sisters Racheli and Odelia are also combat soldiers, and they all volunteer and participate in the war.”

“We’re here under the divine command which calls on us to comfort and assist the people of Israel, and we see it as our mission,” Bayer explained two weeks before the outbreak of the war. “We don’t engage in missionary activity here. We operate for the benefit of the helpless out of our love for Israel, which stems from the scriptures.”

Uriah’s sister, Odelia, spoke about her family history in a Ynet interview four years ago when she placed first in the IDF Combat Officer Competition.

“My grandfather is a German national who spent his whole life in Germany and remembers very well Nazi Germany and how they abused innocent Jews. He always dreamed of fixing, changing and trying to atone for everything that happened by helping the Jewish people.”

“As a result, just over 50 years ago, they joined the Zedakah organization and ran the Beit El rehabilitation center in Shavei Tzion,” she said. “Later, my grandfather and grandmother understood that it was not enough; there was still more to be done. So they founded the Beit Eliezer nursing home for Holocaust survivors in Ma’alot Tarshiha.”

As non-civilians, they are not required to serve in the IDF.

In an interview with J-Post, Juergen Buehler, president of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem and also a German Christian, there are around 100 Evangelical Christian volunteers in the Israeli army, including two of his sons.

Buehler said that the Bayer family witnessed the atrocities of Germany against the Jewish people and wanted to do good, so they came to Israel. Buehler’s father served in World War II and was rescued and saved by a Jewish doctor in a Russian prison camp. He grew up knowing “there is a special relationship between our family and the Jewish people.”

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