Grandma's army

Although my grandchildren served in different sectors of the army, there was one significant feature of their training which was common to them all. It has been designated with the title “tohar haneshek” Literally translated, it means “Purity of Arms” and is a unique Israeli term. The term was coined by Berl Katznelson, who was one of the intellectual founders of Labor Zionism. It was unanimously   adopted by all leaders of the yishuv (Mandatory Palestine),   irrespective of their political and social orientation. They proclaimed: “we have to learn about weapons, and to carry them, but we do not want those weapons to be stained   with innocent blood.” This has become a guiding motto ever since. The application of “Purity of Arms " appeared for the first time in 1939 upon the growing Arab terror attacks on the Jewish “yishuv” (mandated Palestine).   The main Zionist paramilitary organization at the time was simply called   the “Haganah” (the Defence)...

ARMY NEWS Five of my grandchildren are still serving in the Israeli Defense Forces. Memi, who is a commander in a prestigious commando unit of the IDF, has decided to extend his army service. He  is at present participating in a three month’s course. This includes soldiers from all sections of the army. They will be serving as future commanders  of platoons in their particular field. Some time during the course they will be flown to Poland for a week’s tour,  where they will be learning about the Holocaust. This is part of a project called “Witnesses in Uniform”. One of his trainees is his cousin Ohad, who was the first of my triplet grandsons to join the IDF. He was recruited over two years ago, and has already carried out various undisclosed missions His brother Amitai, serving in an armoured battalion, is now a platoon commander. He has recently been promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Aviad is the last one of the triplets to join the IDF and is serving in th...

Apart from Nir (see blog 34), two of his three brothers are also in the Reserves ( miluim). Omer served as a squad commander of recruits   in the Givati regiment during his army service, and was later assigned as commander of a   squad dealing with anti-tank missiles. He was in the middle of his service when his father was murdered. Six months later they lost their home in Gush Katif when the whole of the Gush was evicted. Unfortunately, it was the army which had to carry out the eviction. Omer refuses to speak about it. He was certainly not the only soldier whose home was in Gush Katif at the time and faced with such a terrible dilemma. When Omer is called up for miluim, he is responsible for a specific sector on the Gaza Strip border (an area where he once lived). Apart from his regular miluim   - whenever there is trouble in the area an emergency call goes out to the Reserves, which has to be answered to immediately. Like his father and three brothers, Assaf ...