St.-Sgt. Matan Biderman

Mar 14, 2002 - St.-Sgt. Matan Biderman, 21, of Carmiel was one of three soldiers killed when a tank escorting a civilian convoy drove over a land mine exploded on the Karni-Netzarim road in the Gaza Strip.

At 6:30 AM, an army tracker was walking in front of two tanks, with a unit of Givati Brigade soldiers on foot in the rear, to secure the road leading from nearby Netzarim, when the mine exploded underneath one of the tanks. The terrorists are believed to have hid behind a mosque near the roadside and detonated the mine by remote control. The explosion, which set the tank on fire, killed one of the tank crew instantly; the two other crew members were burned to death. The tank commander and t

Matan Biderman was a member of the first graduating class of the ORT Kramim high school in Carmiel. He would come back and visit the school whenever he came home - most recently less than a month before he was killed, when another of the school's graduates, Benny Kikis, was killed in a terrorist attack at an IDF roadblock.

Matan had just celebrated his 21st birthday two weeks ago together with his family and friends. Friends described him as a great leader - they thought he would one day be prime minister. Matan showed no signs of fear, although many friends feared for him. He would say the he was only "doing his duty".

St.-Sgt. Matan Biderman was buried in Cariel. He is survived by his parents, Ariella and Yitzhak, and his two brothers, Oren and Yoav.