LAND THAT IS HOME

Yoel Zilberman grew up on a cattle ranch in Moshav Tzippori in the Galilee, the third generation of a family rooted deeply in the soil of northern Israel. From an early age, he witnessed the quiet devastation by Bedouin (nomadic Arabs) terrorists of agricultural crime up close. It was obvious that these weren't random acts, but crimes strategically designed to drive Jews off their land.

Yoel (like Nir Amitai) saw his future in the military, in long-term command. He and his brother were in the army, and their father was left alone to face repeated land invasions. The terrorists cut fences, poisoned animals, threatened him, and eventually attacked him with severe violence and stole his car

Every complaint was closed for ‘lack of public interest.’ Hundreds of complaints, sometimes two in a single day. Farmers across the region were suffering. When things escalated, a police commander advised his father to give up part of the land. He told him frankly: ‘We’re dealing with murderers, robbers, rapists. Your case isn’t a priority.’

“My father was heartbroken. He told us he was done; he was a farmer but spent his days fighting invasions and begging the police to come".

When his own family's ranch came under threat, Yoel took leave from his IDF unit, moved into a converted shipping container on their plot, and kept watch through the night. Word spread, neighboring farmers began reaching out for help and volunteers showed up to stand alongside them. What started as a son protecting his family's livelihood became a movement.

In 2007, Yoel joined forces with On Rifman from Kibbutz Revivim in the Negev, hundreds of kilometers to the south. On was another young Israeli, fighting the same battle against  Bedouin criminals. Together, they founded HaShomer HaChadash . The name, meaning "The New Guardian," is a tribute to the original HaShomer, the legendary organization founded in 1909, whose members stood guard over the earliest pioneering communities in the land of Israel. Like those founders before them, Yoel and On believed that love of the land is the foundation of civic life, that it instills a sense of commitment and responsibility, and that it’s something you show up for, with your own two hands.      

ZILBERMAN, 40, is married to Tal with whom he has five children and lives in the Golan Heights. At the time, Zilberman was a naval commando officer and Rifman an officer in Sayeret Matkal (the most prestigious commando battalion). After foregoing their future in the IDF,  they decided to establish a civilian volunteer force to protect agricultural and grazing lands, amid a wave of agricultural crime.

By noon, on the day the war broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, 150 volunteer drivers from HaShomer HaChadash were already operating in the South. “It started with security presence and deterrence,” Zilberman commented, “and quickly turned into rescue missions – evacuating families, extracting soldiers, recovering bodies, transporting military equipment. Almost anything imaginable.” By the end of that week, the unit had grown to 1,500 jeeps.Within three weeks, it was formally recognized as a reserve division and named Har Zion Division. “This was the first reserve division established at the outset of the war,” Zilberman says. “It began with HaShomer HaChadash volunteers and members of the general public. I published one post, and hundreds showed up. Very quickly, the IDF institutionalized it as a division model: four battalions, each with hundreds of vehicles capable of transporting an entire division.

We brought together some of the finest people in Israel – hundreds of volunteers driven by a deep love of the land in its simplest sense, who stepped forward to defend and safeguard the country - without any expectation of reward.

Today, the division includes four battalions. The volunteers are older, many with white hair, most long exempt from reserve duty. Together, they have driven over 10 million kilometers and transported more than 40,000 soldiers during the war, with only two minor traffic accidents.”

                                                                                    

Rooted in over a century of Zionist spirit and built for the realities of the present, HaShomer HaChadash has grown into Israel's largest volunteer movement — connecting hundreds of thousands of people to the land, and to each other.

…Because you connect most intensely to a land that is home.