Israel has a military to defend the country – Israel Defense Forces (IDF) – not to be an aggressive and a subjugating force.
The IDF is a military force by the people for the people. The conscription is from the age of 18 for 2 or 3 year service term. The IDF offers equal opportunity that applies to all. In the last decade, the IDF established a mixed – men and women – units, one such is the Jordan Lion Regiment.
My dear friends’ brave daughter in Israel joined the Jordan Lion Regiment and yesterday, November 15, 2020, the unit, in loyalty to the country’s induction ceremony received their unit’s official berets, after a miles long, very tough, on foot, journey wearing their full and heavy equipment.
Thanks to the technology we enjoy nowadays, I was able to watch the ceremony via Facebook online.
One of the regiment’s commanding officers delivered a speech that impacted me so much I was compelled to have it translate from Hebrew and share.
The Jordan Lions Battalion, its establishment began in early 2014, is a light infantry battalion consisting of male and female fighters. Its operational activities focus on the northern Jordan Valley and the valley’s mountain ridge, on the eastern border of the State of Israel.
The Jordan Lions Battalion has the greatest expertise in the mountain ridge and the Jordan Valley, and its operational employment focuses on both the eastern front and the Palestinian Authority. Battalion’s fighters, located on the borders, are engaged in conducting ambushes and patrols along the border fence.
The battalion’s mission, among other things, is to protect Israel’s eastern border from any hostile terrorist activity (FHA) or any smuggling attempts which could threaten the security of the state and its residents.
On the Palestinian Authority (PA) front, the fighters focus on making wanted persons’ arrests in the PA’s rural areas sector, searching for weapons, dealing with law and order disturbances, and protecting Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley.
End of the Israel’s border protection units (not the border patrol units) ‘beret excursion’ after 4 month training period.
Here is the officer’s speech (begins 28:23): https://www.facebook.com/hgvulot/videos/288343739152663
“We ended the excursion in this place, in the Jerusalem mountain ridge sector, near Mount Eitan, where we found many and varied types of archeology from different periods in human development, from the Bronze Age, Iron Age, the Roman occupation period to the present day.
“Throughout history there have been on the mountain many, different and varied settlements of a diversity of populations.
“During the British Mandate in the land of Israel, during the period of the Jewish underground, there were underground activities in this area in order to establish the Jewish community in Eretz (land of) Israel.
“If you are asking yourselves why all these details are at all important, the answer is simple, you have gone through the preparation to defend the state, to contribute to the Israeli society; it is time to act, to show the value of your mission, to point a finger and make an impact, influence. To carry the stretcher under your shoulder, in order to do whatever you can to advance our society and army, swear allegiance to the State of Israel and most importantly, to defend the State of Israel, that is to say, the land of milk and honey. Because I have no other land, even if my land is burning.
“In the 1940s, in the last century, we were almost exterminated as a people, by the Nazi oppressor, when we lived in exile. The Jews had a longing to return to the Land of Israel, to have our own state, a Jewish and democratic state, to have independence and an army that could fight for what is most dear to us.
“In every generation a person must see himself as having come out of Egypt, in the Exodus, and now this is our turn, yours. Do not look back, because there is no one to do the work for you. Just look ahead and always forward. Remember, our brothers and sisters who were in the Nazi extermination camps without hair, shoes and clothes. Although the period has changed, their memory, their name must be fulfilled.
“We must be alert and sharp to defend the borders and defeat the enemy in every encounter with them.
“You joined a family of warriors that began in the time of the Israelites’ first military general Joshua ben-Nun (the son of Nun) and continued with King David, the warriors of the underground, the elite fighting force Palmach, the various defense organizations and of course the most glorious of them all, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
“Today your head is upright; augment your chest proudly, shed a tear if you wish, you are the border guard fighters. And everything is not self-evident to take for granted; to quote the words of Janusz Korczak: “He who cares for days sows wheat, who cares for years plants trees, who cares for generations educates people” ~ from the thought of Janusz Korczak the ultimate educator.
“The education your parents gave you and the education your children will receive have strengthened our toolbox and the required training and increased the warrior’s abilities in the future to come.
“Well done! God will watch over you. As we say, from Him you will see and then you will act.
“Being a warrior is the duty of every citizen living in this country. Being a combat commander is the realization of the responsibility for those who are capable of it. However, being a combat officer in the Israel Defense Forces is a mission and a dream come true. (34:36 minutes)”
For someone who served in the IDF, when girls were girls and boys were boys, I take my hat off for the brave combat fighter girls, who are pretty, smart, strong-minded and patriotic.