Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of the Israel Defense Forces, the combined military forces of Israel.
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The Latest
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Opinion Is Gaza Fight Israel’s ‘War of Choice’?
Israeli armored personnel carrier rolls at army deployment near Israel’s border with Gaza / Getty Images In his piece “Israel’s Moral Army?” in these pages, Michael Mitchell impressively deconstructs the Israel Defense Force’s conduct during its current military operation in Gaza. Using a variety of pedagogical criteria (international law, Jewish tradition, ethical theory) he ultimately…
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Israel News Hamas Claims It Captured Israeli Soldier in Gaza
A spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing said on Sunday the group had captured an Israeli soldier during fighting in the Gaza Strip. Speaking on a Hamas television station, the masked spokesman, Abu Ubaida, said “Qassam Brigades have captured a Zionist soldier and the occupation has not admitted that.” Israeli television stations ignored the report in…
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Fast Forward 2 More Israeli Soldiers Killed — Gaza Ground War Toll at 5
Two more Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza, bringing the number of soldiers killed to five. 2nd Lt. Bar Rahav, 21, a combat engineer, was killed Saturday night when an anti-tank missile was fired at the engineering vehicle he was operating in the Gaza Strip. 1st Sgt. Bnaya Rubel, 20, an infantry combatant was killed…
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Opinion Israel’s ‘Moral Army’?
Palestinians rush wounded boy to safety after Israeli mortar killed four boys playing soccer on a Gaza beach. Getty Images (Haaretz) — You probably know Israel’s army as the Israel Defense Forces, but the IDF has a more controversial name for itself: the “moral army.” For those unused to this rhetoric, hearing it at a…
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Opinion Is This Best Defense Israel Can Muster?
Getty Images Israel’s consul for public affairs in New York, Gil Lainer, has offered a spirited reply to my June 10 column, “How Politics and Lies Triggered an Unintended War In Gaza.” As a devout Zionist, I’m glad to see a strong, cogent defense of the state of Israel. Unfortunately, as Groucho Marx once put…
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Opinion Ex-Shin Bet Chief: Israeli Illusions Fueled Blowup
Yuval Diskin, who served as director of Israel’s Shin Bet security service from 2005 to 2011, posted some rather blunt observations on his Facebook page this morning regarding the tit-for-tat murders of teenagers, the Palestinian rioting in East Jerusalem and the Triangle (the Arab population center south of Haifa) and what he fears is coming…
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Israel News Elite Israel Army Unit Puts on $438K Show for New York Donor’s Bar Mitzvah Boy Son
(Haaretz) — Members of the Israel Defense Forces’ elite counterterrorism and canine units performed drills on Tuesday for the guests of a bar-mitzvah party at the Adam base, near Modi’in. The party was held by a New York businessman, a veteran donor to various IDF units, on the occasion of his son’s bar mitzvah. Military sources…
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Fast Forward Israel’s Kidnapped Boys Found Dead in Field
Israeli forces have identified the bodies of the three missing Israeli teens, ABC News, The New York Times and other international outlets are reporting. The teens, who went missing in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on June 12, have been the subject of a massive search in recent weeks. Israeli forces have arrested hundreds of Palestinians…
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