A new video released this week captures rare footage showing Arab-Israeli soldiers serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Yoseph Haddad, a well-known Arab-Israeli activist on the anti-boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) circuit and a reporter for i24News, spent time with members of the Bedouin desert reconnaissance unit in a bid to find out why Arabs would choose to serve in Israel’s military.
“This was a chance to look at the Arab community in Israel in another way that we don’t usually see on the social networks,” Haddad said.
An Arab Israeli officer, who served for nine years, explained his decision to join after two rockets fell near his home, killing two children. “When a rocket comes from Gaza or from Lebanon, it doesn’t distinguish between an Arab, a Jew, or any other person.”
He urged others in the Arab world “to come for a visit to see for themselves. I’m proud… Because I was born in this land, I was born in Israel.”
One of the soldiers, identified only as “A,” told i24NEWS: “I am from the Negev desert, where crimes take place… so I thought to myself, what will I achieve in the end?”
The soldier said he left his home after being subjected to violent abuse, and entered a boarding school that was state-run.
“It gave me so much and never asked for anything in exchange,” he said.
News of his recruitment in the military was not received well in his home village.
“They did not accept me in any way… I got away from them, and told them to get away from me,” the soldier added.
Haddad himself is a veteran of an Israel Defense Forces combat unit and was wounded in the Second Lebanon War. In civilian life he is a staunch pro-Israel advocate and has received many threats from Arab Israelis who are angered by what he does.
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