Israeli Defense Forces Come to Speak at Stuyvesant

Two former Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers - Keren, a Jewish woman, and Tom, a Bedouin Arab - described their experiences while serving on Wednesday, October 25.

The event was organized by the Jewish Student Union (JSU). Senior and co-president Caleb Smith-Salzberg worked with Stand With Us, a pro-Israel educational organization, to arrange for the IDF soldiers to speak. “I am an intern at Stand With Us. They provide us with some potential speakers, and I thought that bringing soldiers to speak at a public school would be really cool and a good experience for a lot of students,” Smith-Salzberg said.

Unlike in most other countries, military service in Israel is mandatory at age 18 for both men and women. Men are required to serve for three years while women serve for two years. Arab Israelis are not required to serve; however, some volunteer for the draft.

Keren, a Jewish woman born in Israel, moved to New Jersey with her family when she was two years old and attended a public school in the state. Nevertheless, Keren always felt that Israel was the homeland for the Jewish people.

When she was 16, Keren decided to return to Israel. She lived with her grandmother in Israel until she joined the IDF at age 18. “The reason that I really wanted to join the IDF was because my family [had] been serving in the IDF and protecting Israel for three generations,” Keren said.

Upon joining the army, Keren began training to become a drill sergeant. “It was my dream job, perfect for my personality: yelling at people,” Keren said. She was injured two weeks before completing her training and had to shift to an office job with the army. Keren served in the Gaza border, a small strip of territory that lies between Egypt and Israel and the site of perpetual conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

While serving in the army, Keren experienced being less than a kilometer away while missiles were being launched into Israel from Gaza. “There was this insane siren that shook us up, warning us that we had up to 15 seconds to run [to the next bomb shelter]. What we thought was going to be a 15-minute annoyance turned out to be a six hour night. It was terrifying,” she said.

Though Keren was discharged in November 2013, she continues to feel connected to the IDF and the paratroopers she worked with. During the Israeli incursion into Gaza in 2014, Keren described her feelings of helplessness and fear for the soldiers she had worked with. “I couldn’t believe that my babies […] were on the battlefield, protecting me and my family and the country we love so much,” she said.

Today, Keren is a student at Ben Gurion University, delving into topics such as Middle Eastern Studies, Politics, and Government. As part of a scholarship, she worked with Arabs and Jews and encouraged them to work with each other. “It's two groups of people that usually wouldn’t meet each other, and they got a chance to meet and become friends [...] even if they couldn’t speak the same language” Keren said.

In turn, Keren has started to develop new perspectives on the people on the other side of the Arab-Israeli conflict. “I had my own stereotypes. When I met with Arab Muslims [who] believed exactly what I believed, it was a wake up moment. The stereotypes were ridiculous. We don’t have to fight each other, and we can make peace with [each] other,” Keren said.

Tom, an Israeli Bedouin Arab, grew up in Bir al-Maksur, the largest Bedouin village in Israel. Bedouins are traditionally a nomadic Muslim group. In spite of the tensions between Jews and Muslims, Tom knew he wanted to join the IDF, as his father and brother had done before him. “[I joined] because [I felt] a sense of duty to protect the country that [I] grew up in,” Tom said.

Tom served in the air force with an anti-aircraft unit, which later worked on the Iron Dome, a missile defense system that detects, assesses, and intercepts rockets, artillery, and mortar that are shot at Israel. He was stationed in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory, where he faced molotov cocktails and stone throwing on a daily basis.

On one occasion, Tom arrested a Palestinian man who intended to launch a terrorist attack on Jews. When Tom questioned the man, he explained that he was doing it for his family. Tom was told that the Palestinian government gives monthly payments to the families of terrorists, yet those imprisoned by Israel are well fed and taken care of.

After experiencing life in the IDF, Tom is now a student who works with a nonprofit to physically train teenagers for their military service. Like Keren, Tom believes that everyone, irrespective of his or her religion, can cooperate and work together to create peace. “I believe that each [...] of us have a unique voice. We can work together toward our common goal,” Tom said.

Many of the students at the event enjoyed listening and learning from the soldiers. “I thought that the speakers were really cool. Since one of them lived in New Jersey her whole life, we could relate to her more and learn about her experience and transition going to Israel,” senior and vice-president of the JSU Elizabeth Chernob said.