Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of the Israel Defense Forces, the combined military forces of Israel.
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Opinion The Fallout From Two Soldiers Holding Hands
No one should have been surprised that a photo of two male Israeli soldiers holding hands would have gone viral and provoked a huge response after the IDF posted it on Monday on its Facebook page in honor of Pride Month. As of Tuesday evening, it had garnered 9,500 likes, 7,330 shares, and 1,360 comments….
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Breaking News Gay Soldiers’ Pic Causes Tiff in Israel
A photo posted on the Israel Defense Forces website in honor of Pride Month, showing two male soldiers in uniform holding hands, has caused a stir. The photo posted Monday and captioned “It’s Pride Month. Did you know that the IDF treats all of its soldiers equally?” had garnered more than 7,800 likes and more…
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News Haredi Draft Could Cause Gender Issue
After six decades of exempting ultra-Orthodox from the army, the Israeli government appears resolved to draft them. But the plan, widely popular among secular Israelis, may have unintended negative consequences for the tens of thousands of women serving in the military. The planned Haredi draft — a product of the recent deal that Israeli Prime…
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News End of Two-State Solution, Orthodox in the IDF
In this week’s podcast, host Josh Nathan-Kazis talks with Washington correspondent Nathan Guttman about a growing sense that the two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict may no longer be possible. Then, Josh is joined by opinion editor Gal Beckerman to discuss a new deal that may see ultra-Orthodox Jews serving in the Israel Defense Force…
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The Schmooze Yair Netanyahu Goes AWOL
Yair Netanyahu, son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara, wanted to pop home for Shabbat dinner with his family. So that is just what he did. The only problem was that Yair is an IDF soldier, and he did not have permission to do so. Now, Yair is serving a 21-day military…
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Opinion Israel and Iran: What ‘60 Minutes’ Didn’t Tell You
Leslie Stahl’s “60 Minutes” interview Sunday night with former Mossad chief Meir Dagan gave important exposure to his views on the folly of attacking Iran. However, she got two things very wrong, both of which weakened the strength of his case against a military strike. The bottom line is, she let you think Dagan is…
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The Schmooze Israeli Jews Split on IDF Women Singing
There is a surprising new poll out in Israel, where there has been significant controversy in recent weeks about religious soldiers who leave ceremonies where women sing. The walkouts have generated angry opinion pieces in the media and fury among top army brass, with 19 reserve major generals petitioning the Defense Ministry claiming that they…
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Opinion ‘Taking Out’ Obama, and Our Slide Into Madness
I guess we can all breathe a sigh of relief now that Andrew Adler has resigned as publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times. His January 13 column, proposing that Israel might consider assassinating President Obama, was enormously embarrassing to Israel, its supporters and Jews everywhere. Removing him from his visible position makes life a lot…
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Opinion Netanyahu was right to end the war in Lebanon — now Gaza must follow
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Culture 10 wicked ways to avoid talking about war and politics this Thanksgiving
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Fast Forward Israeli security cabinet approves ceasefire with Hezbollah, paving way for end of yearlong conflict in Israel’s north
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