This is the Forward’s coverage of the Israel Defense Forces, the combined military forces of Israel.
IDF
The Latest
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Israel News Israeli Couple Wins Right To Get Grandchild — Using Dead Son’s Sperm
After a protracted legal battle, an Israeli couple won the right to produce a grandchild using the sperm of their son, who died in a car crash while serving in the Israeli Navy four years ago. Irit and Asher Shahar plan to use a donor egg and surrogate mother to produce a son or daughter…
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Fast Forward IDF Chief Rabbi Nominee Says He Never Excused Wartime Rape
JERUSALEM — The nominee for chief rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces said in a deposition that he never believed rape during wartime is acceptable. Rabbi Col. Eyal Karim submitted a deposition on Wednesday to the Supreme Court, which had suspended his appointment and ordered him to clarify comments he had made a decade earlier that…
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Fast Forward IDF Conscription Rate Falls 3.5% Over 5 Years
— The rate of enlistment into the Israel Defense Forces has dropped by 3.5 percent over the past five years, army sources said. In 2016, the IDF saw the conscription of 72 percent of people who are initially listed as duty bound to serve in the military, Army Radio reported Wednesday. Among the 28 percent…
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Israel News My Son’s Killer Is on Trial and No One Informed Me
The video is infamous: In March an Israeli sergeant shot and killed a Palestinian who had already been lying for several minutes in the street, wounded and neutralized, after being shot while stabbing and wounding another soldier. Now, Abdul Fattah Sharif’s death is in its long second phase — the sergeant’s military trial. And though…
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Fast Forward Israeli Military Razes West Bank Shelters Built by EU
JERUSALEM — Israel razed five buildings in the West Bank constructed without permits, including three built by the European Union. Forces from the Civil Administration tore down the buildings Tuesday in a Bedouin village near Hebron. A day earlier, three others were razed near Jericho. The buildings taken down Tuesday housed 27 Palestinians, including 16…
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Life This Young Woman Battled the Israeli Army to Become a Combat Soldier
A conversation with 20-year old Eden Levy at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport: Hi, can I ask why you’re traveling? I start my army service next week, and I’ve been living at home for the last while. I’m flying now so that I can take a little break with my sister before I come back to…
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Fast Forward IDF Razes Homes of Sarona Market Attackers
JERUSALEM — The West Bank homes of the two terrorists who killed four Israelis in a shooting attack on the popular Sarona Market in Tel Aviv were demolished. The Israel Defense Forces razed the Hebron-area homes of cousins Mohammed Mahamra and Khaled Mahamra on Wednesday night using bulldozers and explosives. They reportedly did not meet…
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Fast Forward IDF Revokes Exemptions of 4,000 Men Who Falsely Claimed Yeshiva Studies
JERUSALEM — The Israel Defense Forces has revoked exemptions to some 4,000 men who claimed they were yeshiva students. The men were found to be living a secular lifestyle or were not studying 45 hours per week at a yeshiva as required, Ynet reported, citing a senior official in the IDF’s Manpower Directorate. Some of the…
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Fast Forward Why some Satmar Hasidic leaders endorsed Zohran Mamdani as mayor, stunning many Jewish voters
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News How Mamdani became New York’s next mayor, with Jews divided between fierce opposition and fiery support
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Opinion I’m an Israeli who lives in New York. Here’s why I’m voting for Mamdani
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Culture Mamdani quoted Eugene Debs in his victory speech — there’s a long Jewish history there
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Film & TV On the trail of a priceless dove, a group of Palestinians and Israelis find that peace is for the birds
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Culture Could poetry revive Yitzhak Rabin’s legacy among young American Jews?
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