Dr. Yehuda David z"l, a surgeon and combat medic who earned the Aluf Citation of Distinction for his service in the Second Lebanon War, has died at 73.
Dr. David was born in Algeria and raised in France, where he studied medicine. After making aliyah, he specialized in hand surgery at Shaare Zedek and Tel Hashomer hospitals. During the Second Lebanon War, he served as the physician for the Nahal Brigade's 932nd Battalion, and his performance under fire earned him the IDF's Aluf Citation.
He became known to the public through a years-long libel trial brought against him by Jamal al-Dura, the father of Mohammed al-Dura, the boy shot on camera in the opening days of the Second Intifada while his father used him as a shield. The Palestinians accused the IDF of firing the shots. Dr. David testified that the wounds the father displayed in court were old injuries he himself had treated seven years earlier, and that they had been inflicted by Hamas, not by Israeli forces.
