UPDATE: Palestinian arrested with nine crates of M-16 bullets that he was smuggling to PLO terrorists in Judea and Samaria.
TODAY’S BLOG:
A religious artillery officer in the IDF
The IDF’s Personnel Directorate has released statistics that give a fascinating portrait of who is serving where in the IDF. What is fascinating is how a disproportionately large number of religious men–specifically from Samaria–are enlisting in the IDF and making their way up the ladder to leadership positions.
A group of religious soldiers in the IDF. Note the soldier in the foreground wearing a kipa and reading his Torah.
It is trend that is particularly interesting in light of the fact that the IDF General Staff, under the failed leadership of Ehud Barak and Benny Gantz, has identified the men of the religious communities of Samaria as “right-wing extremists”–a label that has been picked up by the Israeli media, those on the political “left” in Israel, and by extension–the “left-wing” NGOs that seek to delegitimize Israel, the European Union, the United Nations, and other organizations.
The statistics speak for themselves.
After graduation from high school, 74.8% of Israeli teenagers enlist in the IDF–a percentage that has been decreasing in recent years. The highest rate of enlistment comes from Samaria where 81.2% enlist–a percentage that has been increasing.
The proud Jewish communities of the Shomron Council
On the national level, 39.5% of those teenagers who enlist serve in combat units. On the other hand, 67% of teenagers from Samaria enlist in combat units such as the Givati and Golani Brigades.
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In terms of those enlistees who eventually become officers, 8% of teenagers on the national level reach that level of service while 16% of teenagers from Samaria become officers.
On the basis of these statistics, Major-General Orna Barbivai, head of the IDF’s Personnel Directorate, recently wrote Shomron Council (the ‘Shomron Council’–based in Alon Moreh– is the regional council of 30 Jewish communities in the northern Samarian hills) leader Gershon Mesika a letter which said that “these figures should be a source of pride to you and to the rest of the Shomron Council’s residents.”
To which Mesika replied: “I’m proud of the Shomron youths, who are raised on the values of settlement in the Land of Israel and are partners in the daily realization of Zionism. Educating teens to settle the Land of Israel leads to excellence in the IDF. This is also our answer to all those who have been inciting and spreading hatred recently.”
Mesika is exactly right.
The time has come for the Israeli media and others to stop inciting and spreading hatred of religious community members in Samaria. They are among Israel’s most patriotic citizens.
THIS DAY IN ISRAELI HISTORY
On January 27, 1947, the ship “Chaim Arlozoroff” left Trelleborg, Sweden, carrying 664 survivors of the European death camps to the land of Israel; most of these survivors were women who were subsequently labeled “illegal immigrants” by the British.
When the ship finally made it to Haifa, British authorities promptly arrested these women from the concentration camps and transported them to barbed wire detention camps in Cyprus.
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.