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St.-Sgt. Dan Talasnikov
Before dawn, IDF troops entered the area of Saida to arrest members of the Islamic Jihad terror cell that orchestrated the attack at Tel Aviv's Stage nightclub on February 25, 2005, in which five Israelis were killed. As an IDF force from the paratroop reconnaissance unit approached the area outside the village where two wanted terrorists were hiding, the terrorists opened fire. The IDF force returned fire. Senior Islamic Jihad member Shafiq Abd al-Ghani was killed and the second was captured six hours later at an army roadblock. St.-Sgt. Dan Talasnikov who was severely wounded, was rushed to hospital to receive medical treatment, and later died of his wounds. A second soldier was lightly wounded. Dan was educated in Nir Galim, the religious moshav near Ashdod where he lived since the age of 10, and at nearby Kibbutz Yavneh. He liked playing his acoustic guitar, which he received as a bar mitzvah gift from his older brother Jan, a member of the Ashdod soccer team. "He was an amazing singer. At a younger age he also sang liturgical music at the moshav synagogue." Dan spent last weekend at home, on a vacation cut short when he was recalled at the beginning of the week. "I understood he was being recalled because of terror alerts," Jan said. "I drove him to the train station, and that's where I saw him for the last time." Jan added, "He was raised on love of the land, enlisted in one of the most elite commando units in the IDF. He was well-built, a strong man, I'm certain he died a heroic death for this country. He was the sort of kid every family in this country would want. He was so beautiful, so suffused with faith and values, believed in the sanctity of the land." A family friend talked about the strong ties between the Talasnikov brothers and their mother, brought closer by their father's tragic death by suicide when Dan was 4. "They always watched out for each other," he said. His mother's second husband Maxim became a father to him. Dan was part of a close-knit foursome in Nir Galim. "We were the best of friends," said Yoav Roth, "always together - me, Dan, Golan Salvi, and Shai Bal. Dan loved playing guitar, loved playing, studied theater, he was an excellent mimic." His friends spoke of how Dan loved his army service, completing his training in hand-to-hand combat, anti-terror combat and more. "He was always at the center of the action," a friend said. "His greatest dream was to encounter terrorists. It's hard for me to say whether he died fulfilling his dream." St.-Sgt. Dan Talasnikov was buried in Nir Galim. He is survived by his mother, Leah, his stepfather Maxim and four brothers.
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May 2, 2005 - St.-Sgt. Dan Talasnikov, 21, of Nir Galim was killed and another soldier lightly wounded in an exchange of fire during an operation to arrest wanted terrorists from the Islamic Jihad in the village of Saida, north of Tulkarem.