Incoming Likud MK Elisha Medan, an IDF reservist who lost both legs in a booby-trapped tunnel blast in northern Gaza, said he will stand on his prosthetic legs when he takes the oath of allegiance at the Knesset swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday.
"I have decided that when I pledge allegiance to the Knesset of Israel and the people of Israel, I will stand on my own feet," Medan wrote. "I will do so despite the pain, the bleeding that won't stop and a medical condition that is still unclear."
Medan, 47, published the post on the third anniversary of the battle in which he was wounded. It was the first social media post of his life. In it, he described the physical and emotional rehabilitation he has been through and paid tribute to his comrades who were killed.
He also addressed Israel's enemies directly. "Look at me closely, cursed enemies: Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and all the rest who rise against us," he wrote. "This is what victory looks like. Our people are a people of fighters. You will never defeat us."
On November 10, 2023, Medan's reserve unit was operating in Beit Hanoun when an explosive device attached to a tunnel shaft detonated. Four soldiers were killed in the blast, including company commander Maj. Moshe Yedidya Leiter. Medan was critically wounded, and both his legs were amputated above the knee. After multiple surgeries and a long hospitalization, he began rehabilitation and learned to walk on prosthetic legs. He returned home a year and three months after he was wounded.
Since then, Medan has traveled the country sharing his story with soldiers, students and communities, often calling for unity in Israeli society. In 2025, he lit a torch for healing and rehabilitation at the Independence Day ceremony on Mount Herzl.
Medan is one of the founders of the community of Avigayil in the South Hebron Hills, a father of six and the son of Rabbi Yaakov Medan, head of the Har Etzion Yeshiva. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reserved a place for him on the Likud list ahead of last month's election, and he enters the Knesset as one of 46 first-time lawmakers.
