Team 12 in the Gefen Battalion in the
Officers' Training Base in the Negev (a base that is better known in
Hebrew by its acronym, Bahad 1) seems to be comprised of the most
colorful mosaic that Israel can offer. What looks like a casting list
for a reality television program is actually a solid ensemble that
includes a Bedouin, an Ethiopian, a European, a soldier who is half
Muslim and half Jewish, residents of agricultural communities, city
dwellers and a settler. All of them are in their 20s, serious about the
army and about to complete the officer training course. The other teams
call them "the oddball team," all in good fun, of course, and the group
from the Gefen team takes it in good spirits. After all, they are
working together toward a common goal -- to command the Israeli army's
next generation of combat soldiers, and to do it well -- and the
different background of each one of them plays no role in that.
"It makes no difference what your religion is
or what unit you come from," says the team's commander, Lt. Dolev
Shtiler, 23. "The army is a very strong melting pot. The differences
among the team members only teach them how to get the best out of
themselves." He adds, "Behind the uniforms are people, and I am a big
believer in their potential. Strength of will and a great deal of
perseverance will turn them into great commanders."
One of the team members, Yehonatan Ben Atar,
20, confirms Shtiler's statements. "Different cultures from the world
and from different regions in Israel create a different atmosphere among
us -- an atmosphere of unity," he says. Chen Sharabi, who was awarded a
citation as an outstanding squad commander in the Kfir Battalion, sums
it up. "As future commanding officers, it's important to us to love our
soldiers thanks to and also in spite of who they are, and to get the
best out of them."
Rights and responsibilities
Ali Hujirat, 20, a Bedouin Muslim from
Nazareth, served as a wing commander in the Bedouin reconnaissance
battalion, and his next statement proves that directness is his middle
name. "Anyone who does not serve our country, even in the [civilian]
National Service, should not be here -- he should just go." His words,
and his service in the army, have earned him barrages of criticism, but
he says he has grown immune.
"I go into the city in uniform and speak
Arabic. Anyone who does not like it can hit his head against the wall as
far as I am concerned. Anyone who says I am a traitor can go to hell,"
he says, adding that "many people around me call me a traitor and give
me dirty looks on the street, but I give them a dirty look right back so
that they will be scared. There is no reason why I should be scared of
them."
Unlike what he encounters on the streets of
Nazareth, on the Gefen team Hujirat feels himself an equal among equals.
It is with that feeling that he returns home on leave, full of
confidence, and courageously faces the attacks he gets at home. "They
falsely accused me of firing my weapon on the street and called the
police," he recalls. But he remains undaunted and makes his family and
his Jewish girlfriend proud. Of course, his fellow soldiers on the team
are supportive. "What more does a person need?" he asks with a smile.
Shaker Kuzal, 20, may well take the cake for
diversity on the Gefen team. A Druze cadet from the village of Isfiya
in the Carmel region, he served as a squad commander in the Golani
commando unit during Operation Protective Edge. He comes from a Bedouin
Muslim family, but his mother is Jewish. It is a good mixture. "I eat
hummus on Fridays and fast on Yom Kippur. I am a bit conflicted when it
comes to ethnicity," Kuzal says with a wink. "People usually think I am
Jewish because when I speak Hebrew, I do not have a thick Arabic accent.
And then people are shocked when I say that I am a Bedouin. They do not
believe me," he says.
His drive to enlist came from his family. His
father served in the Israeli army, his uncle is a lieutenant colonel in
the reserves and Kuzal is continuing their legacy. His family accepts
his military service as a matter of course, and supports him lovingly.
But it seems that only in a fantasy world could his army service go by
completely smoothly in his environment.
"I come from an Arab population in which it is
not customary to enlist," he says. "While I live in a Druze village
where the majority of people serve in the army, in my neighborhood there
are Muslims who did not like the fact that I enlisted, especially at
first, and urged me not to go. They even warned me that I would only
stand to lose, but in the end I went with my gut. If I want to be a
citizen with equal rights, I have to be a citizen with equal
responsibilities too," he says.
Like Hujirat, Kuzal also has to deal with
dirty looks and insults. "When I go back home, I change into civilian
clothes and go on my way. I am proud to wear my country's uniform, but
at the same time I try not to be ostentatious about it. I have been
called traitor a few times, and people called me a snob when they saw me
in uniform, but my service is worth all the criticism, even if it
creates friction at times."
Kuzal is no different from his fellow soldiers
on the Gefen team in that he is sociable and highly motivated. "I am
committed to squeezing a bucket of sweat out of my troops, but not a
single drop of blood," he says.
With rare candor, he adds, "All the Arabs who
live in this country know that if they were living under an Arab regime,
our conditions would be a good deal worse, so they are grateful that
they have the State of Israel. That is how it sounds in private
conversations, no matter how much they deny saying it. I tell you --
that is how they talk. I also admit that if I were Arab on both sides,
Israel is the only country I would want to live in."
A matter of education
In the home of Yunes Ambao, 21, a native of
Ethiopia, opinions were divided as to his enlistment. His older brother
served in the Israeli army, and his younger sister will be enlisting as
well. "My father supported my decision to enlist," he says, "but my
mother was afraid because she felt it was dangerous. In the end, I
enlisted, and I am happy about my decision."
He has reason to be happy. "In my case, people
show me more respect when I am in uniform," he says. "There were
situations where people saw me on the street, in uniform, and did not
take their eyes off my company commander pin. They were astonished, and
said it was impressive. If I look at where I came from, the background
of my neighborhood, not everyone manages to get into a combat unit. It
was important to me to be different. It was important to me to show that
I could succeed. It was important to me to contribute to the country."
About his fellow soldiers in the course, he says, "We have a team that
learns and teaches, and it is important to me to be that kind of
commanding officer."
One of the most dominant cadets on the team,
who, on paper, would appear to be a rival of Hujirat and Kuzal, is
Yehonatan Yekutiel, 21, who comes from Alon Shvut, a religious community
in Gush Etzion. To put it bluntly, Yekutiel is a settler. In his
community, young men are encouraged to enlist in combat units, as he did
last year, after two years of studying in yeshiva.
As a cadet in the squad commanders' course in
the Paratroopers' Brigade, Yekutiel fought in Operation Protective Edge,
and before that in Operation Brother's Keeper, the effort to bring back
three teenagers -- Naftali Frenkel, Gil-ad Shaer and Eyal Yifrah -- who
had been kidnapped and were later found murdered. Yekutiel has a spark
in his eyes when he speaks. He believes that the key to everything in
the army is to be a decent person above all. "If I am not a good person
as a civilian, the army is not going to make me into one. Everything is
rooted," he says.
He is currently concentrating on his future as
a commanding officer, and particularly on the educational aspect that
he hopes to impart to his troop, who come from a religious background
and received a strict religious education. "They come to the army with
enormous gaps in their knowledge, and the feeling is that during the
educational phase of basic training, they encounter certain things for
the first time that others, who were part of youth movements or studied
at public schools, are used to hearing, mainly about the recent history
of the wars."
When asked whether the diversity of the Gefen
team serves to unite its members, he chooses at first not to answer,
perhaps because he knows that this phase of the officers' course is only
part of the military journey that each of his comrades has undertaken.
Finally he says, "It is childish to believe that we will stay friends
forever," shattering the naivete of those around him.
He talks about draft evasion, claiming that
one of the reasons it is on the rise is that Israeli citizens are
confident that there will never be a second Holocaust and that the army
will protect them from all existing threats of destruction, at any
price. The problem of draft evasion does not bother David Rimon, 20, of
Hadera, either, who believes that it can be resolved by educating for
enlistment from a young age.
"People enlist as a consequence of the
upbringing they received at home and in society, and of course because
of all the experiences they had until the age of 18. But where is the
education system regarding this matter? I do not remember that anyone
ever talked to us in school about the importance of military service. I
am convinced that if the Education Ministry were to invest and make it
part of the curriculum in a serious way, starting in elementary school,
the problem of draft evasion would not be so severe," Rimon says.
Eran Shemesh, 20, has a different solution.
"Harsher punishments will make society itself condemn the evaders," he
says. "A situation has to be created in which they will not be
comfortable walking around with their heads high, their chests out and a
smile on their faces. They have to be ashamed of it." David Suissa, 22,
adds: "As the son of parents who were officers, I see military service
from a perspective of religious belief, and serving in the Israeli army
is a great mitzvah [good deed]."
Draft evasion is not the only problem that the
cadets find disturbing. Aviram Hayo, 20, of Moshav Haniel, whose
relatives served in the Armored Corps, became the first one of his
family to be in the Infantry Corps when he joined the Nahal Brigade. He
is disturbed by the training period in the battalions. "It is seven
months long now, and I would extend it by a year," he says. "Of course,
that would come at the expense of something else, but as a combat
soldier I feel, like many others do, that the more you train, the better
prepared for war you will be."
A storm in the positive sense
Despite the high level of motivation of the 13
members of the Gefen team and the support of Lt. Shtiler, their
commanding officer, everybody admits that they have no aspirations to
become the next chief of staff. Still, one cannot help but be impressed
by the command potential of the cadets who came from elite units, such
as S., B., and P. For them, the army, and concern for the nation, are
part of their DNA.
For example, S. constantly searches for points
of connection within the nation. "Many people saw the unconditional
love that exists in our nation during Operation Protective Edge, when
the entire nation mobilized and people helped one another," he says.
"But right after the operation ended, nobody knew one another anymore. I
think that is a shame, since if we know how to do it during a time of
crisis, why can't we manage to do it during ordinary times too?" That is
certainly food for thought.
He also says, a bit jokingly but mostly
seriously, "There needs to be an idea for changing the way sleep is seen
in the army. It is healthier and better for the body to sleep a bit
more so that it will be able to work much better. We have a
responsibility as soldiers and as commanders, and maximum concentration
is the factor that can help us win wars." B. says that the army
compensates for the shortage of sleep, personnel and budget "with
high-quality personnel and by using the equipment in a calculated way."
The three cadets from elite units describe the
team's diversity. P. says, "Each one of us influences the atmosphere
differently. Each one of us has a different spirit, and when they are
combined, it is a storm in the positive sense."
S. says, "When we are together, we are a
single unit that is learning the nuts and bolts of the army, but is also
learning to get to know other people who are a bit different." S. also
says that he connects to Yekutiel's earlier statement about the level of
friendship: "Despite all this, once we conclude the course, all that
will be left of us is the Whatsapp group."
To conclude, B. says: "They say that we are the most
diverse team, but to a certain extent, it is not entirely accurate to
say that we are diverse people. I would categorize us as a team made up
of people with different personalities, since all of us have the same
job -- to be commanders and combat soldiers."
