Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of the Israel Defense Forces, the combined military forces of Israel.
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Opinion As Egypt Erupts, Barak Sows Chaos in IDF Senior Command
Small minds might expect that with everything going in Egypt, Israel’s senior defense officials would have spent the last week focused on what happens next along Israel’s long, undefended southern border. But of course, that’s not how things work these days, now that Israel has Ehud Barak, the most decorated soldier in Israel’s history, as…
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Life Why My Mother Spent Her 89th Birthday at a West Bank Checkpoint
My mother recently celebrated her 89th birthday in a most unusual place for a party — the Tayasir Checkpoint, situated in the northeastern West Bank, halfway between Nablus and Jenin. Barren hills, not yet softened by the green grasses that grow in winters with good rainfall, crowd around an intersection of two roads. One road…
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The Schmooze From IDF Lieutenant to Producing the Golden Globes
Orly Adelson’s employees do not salute her when they report for work in the morning. “I would like that, but they won’t,” she said, laughing at the thought. Adelson is president of dick clark productions, the company that produces shows such as “So You Think You Can Dance,” “Shaq Vs.,” the Academy of Country Music…
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The Schmooze IDF Catches Army Dodgers on Facebook
Playing “Farmville” on Shabbat isn’t a great idea if you’ve told the Israeli army you’re too frum to serve. That’s one of the lessons about a thousand Israeli women have learned after the Israel Defense Forces used Facebook to check out claims of religious observance. By using the hugely popular social-networking site, the military managed…
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The Schmooze Thanksgiving Reaches the Israel Defense Forces
It turns out that the Thanksgiving tradition reached the Israel Defense Forces. An organization that cares for so-called lone soldiers — i.e. soldiers who made aliyah without their parents — prepared Thanksgiving dinner for 200 people in Tel Aviv. And it wasn’t only U.S. expats who were invited, but also soldiers from 13 other countries….
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Opinion Uproar as Haredi Lawmaker Urges Yeshiva Boys to Join Army, Get Jobs
We’ve been talking a lot lately about the rising proportion of ultra-Orthodox or Haredi Jews in the Israeli population, and the various challenges it poses to Israeli society. Most dramatic are the declining proportion of 18-year-olds who will be available for military service, since the great majority of Haredi men claim an exemption as full-time…
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The Schmooze IDF Soldiers Do a Dance While on Patrol in Hebron
18-year-olds have been known to do some pretty stupid (but entertaining) things. We’ve all been there (and, in most cases, would rather forget ). But a recent Youtube video of six IDF soldiers performing a Macarena-style dance to pop singer Ke$ha’s song “Tik Tok,” while on patrol (not to mention during the Muslim call to…
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Life How Israel’s Mandatory IDF Service Affects How We Parent
I began my phone call to my friend Karen with the same question that has launched all of our recent conversations: “How’s Noah?” And so I get the latest report on her 18-year-old son who recently entered training for a combat unit in the Israel Defense Forces. Noah is the first child of a close…
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