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Thousands Attend Funeral in Israel of US-Born Lone Soldier: ‘We May Not Know Him, but He’s Family’
Jordan Cooper. Photo: Screenshot
Several thousand people on Tuesday evening attended the funeral of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fighter Jordan Cooper, a reservist and lone soldier originally from the US, who passed away after a rare allergy attack.
Cooper’s family called on the public to attend his funeral, explaining that several family members could not make it to Israel in time because many flights from the US were canceled amid rising tensions with Iran.
Crowds filled every inch of Ganei Esther Cemetery in Rishon Lezion. The funeral was held at 10 pm on Tuesday evening, just two hours after the Tisha B’av fast, which marks the saddest day in the Jewish calendar.
Mourners attend Jordan Cooper’s funeral. Photo: Taken by author
Cooper’s mother, Marla, who was visiting her son from the US, had bought halva at a market, after being assured by the vendor that it was nut-free. Despite using an EpiPen after consuming the halva, Jordan experienced a severe allergic reaction. He collapsed in front of his family as the ambulance arrived and was pronounced dead shortly afterward.
“It’s just amazing to think that no one thought twice about coming so soon after a 25-hour fast,” mourner Reut Levy, from Modiin, told The Algemeiner.
Asked if she knew the deceased personally, Levy responded, “No. But did anyone here? We saw a WhatsApp message to come so we came. This is the essence of am yisrael,” she said, referring to the Hebrew term for the people of Israel.
Moshe Gal said he had driven a couple of hours from Haifa to attend Cooper’s funeral. “We came to show we care. We may not know him, but he’s family nonetheless,” Gal said. “Who is like you, Nation of Israel?”
Lia Kiral, who lives opposite the cemetery with her mother and brother, said they always made an effort to attend funerals there. “We came to pay our last respects to this soldier, who came here to serve,” said Kiral, who had an Israeli flag draped around her soldiers.
Lia Kiral at Jordan Cooper’s funeral. Photo: Taken by author
Cooper’s father, Russ, choked up as he eulogized his son, visibly moved by the thousands of people who responded to the last-minute call to attend. “This is the reason he came to this country. Because of all of you,” he said.
Cooper had immigrated to Israel in 2018 through the Garin Tzabar program for lone soldiers with no immediate family in the Jewish state and served in the Nahal infantry brigade. After completing his military service, he returned to his hometown in Pennsylvania but came back to Israel following the outbreak of war on Oct. 7 to fight in his reserve unit on the northern border. He fought for 200 consecutive days before his release on July 18. During that time, Cooper had made the decision to stay in Israel, marry his girlfriend Valery, and serve as a career officer in the Border Police.
Last week, Cooper met with his reserve unit at the hospital to visit their commander, who had lost his leg during an operation in Gaza. Cooper was determined to help the commander obtain a robotic leg from the United States, his close friend Raphael Portgang was cited by the Ynet news site as saying.
Another friend, Chaimon Blumfield, told mourners on Tuesday night that Cooper fought hard to rejoin his army unit, which told him that it was at 120 percent capacity. He played a WhatsApp voice message to the crowd. “Try to help me fight. I want to serve in this war; I want to go into Gaza,” Cooper said in the message.
Ethan Cooper eulogized his brother, saying he would do everything to preserve his legacy. “I’ll find him in every place in my life, and I’ll be strong for him forever.”
The post Thousands Attend Funeral in Israel of US-Born Lone Soldier: ‘We May Not Know Him, but He’s Family’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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UN Security Council Meets on Iran as Russia, China Push for a Ceasefire
Members of the Security Council cast a vote during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the 3rd anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at UN headquarters in New York, US, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado
The U.N. Security Council met on Sunday to discuss US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites as Russia, China and Pakistan proposed the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Middle East.
It was not immediately clear when it could be put to a vote. The three countries circulated the draft text, said diplomats, and asked members to share their comments by Monday evening. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Britain, Russia or China to pass.
The US is likely to oppose the draft resolution, seen by Reuters, which also condemns attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites and facilities. The text does not name the United States or Israel.
“The bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States marks a perilous turn in a region that is already reeling,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Sunday. “We now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation.”
“We must act – immediately and decisively – to halt the fighting and return to serious, sustained negotiations on the Iran nuclear program,” Guterres said.
The world awaited Iran’s response on Sunday after President Donald Trump said the US had “obliterated” Tehran’s key nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution.
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that while craters were visible at Iran’s enrichment site buried into a mountain at Fordow, “no one – including the IAEA – is in a position to assess the underground damage.”
Grossi said entrances to tunnels used for the storage of enriched material appear to have been hit at Iran’s sprawling Isfahan nuclear complex, while the fuel enrichment plant at Natanz has been struck again.
“Iran has informed the IAEA there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels at all three sites,” said Grossi, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran requested the U.N. Security Council meeting, calling on the 15-member body “to address this blatant and unlawful act of aggression, to condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
Israel‘s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement on Sunday that the U.S. and Israel “do not deserve any condemnation, but rather an expression of appreciation and gratitude for making the world a safer place.”
Danon told reporters before the council meeting that it was still early when it came to assessing the impact of the U.S. strikes. When asked if Israel was pursuing regime change in Iran, Danon said: “That’s for the Iranian people to decide, not for us.”
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Israel Rejects Critical EU Report Ahead of Ministers’ Meeting
FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
Israel has rejected a European Union report saying it may be breaching human rights obligations in Gaza and the West Bank as a “moral and methodological failure,” according to a document seen by Reuters on Sunday.
The note, sent to EU officials ahead of a foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, said the report by the bloc’s diplomatic service failed to consider Israel’s challenges and was based on inaccurate information.
“The Foreign Ministry of the State of Israel rejects the document … and finds it to be a complete moral and methodological failure,” the note said, adding that it should be dismissed entirely.
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Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’
FILE PHOTO: Pope Leo XIV holds a Jubilee audience on the occasion of the Jubilee of Sport, at St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican June 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi/File Photo
Pope Leo on Sunday said the international community must strive to avoid war that risks opening an “irreparable abyss,” and that diplomacy should take the place of conflict.
US forces struck Iran’s three main nuclear sites overnight, joining an Israeli assault in a major new escalation of conflict in the Middle East as Tehran vowed to defend itself.
“Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility: to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” Pope Leo said during his weekly prayer with pilgrims.
“No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, the stolen future. Let diplomacy silence the weapons, let nations chart their future with peace efforts, not with violence and bloody conflicts,” he added.
“In this dramatic scenario, which includes Israel and Palestine, the daily suffering of the population, especially in Gaza and other territories, risks being forgotten, where the need for adequate humanitarian support is becoming increasingly urgent,” Pope Leo said.
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