Military service - admission to a decent society
So far, there are not very many fighters in this guard, although Arab soldiers can be found in various parts of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces).
The current Israeli legislation does not provide for a call to the active service of Arab youths, and especially girls. And religious affiliation in this case is completely irrelevant. Indeed, in the IDF serve Bedouins and Circassians, who also profess Islam. As for the Druze, a special Middle Eastern community, in whose beliefs elements of Islam, Judaism and Christianity were united, many of their representatives wear Generals shoulder straps in the IDF. The native language of Bedouin and Druze is Arabic, so they usually serve in intelligence units.
It is significant that over the past two years, the number of Bedouins who decided to join the ranks of the Israeli army increased by 43%. The percentage of Israeli Muslim Arabs who decided to join the ranks of the defenders of the Jewish state is also growing. As for the Arab girls with Israeli citizenship, their appeals to the Sherut Leumi (“National Service”) increased by 23%. This service is in a sense an alternative to military urgent, and usually it is held by Orthodox young Jewish women to be called up.
Now there are many Muslim women among the Sherutnits who join this service completely voluntarily. The IDF Major Yusuf Ahmedi, a psychologist with a specialty, explains the statistical leap in the desire of Arab Israeli youth to serve in the IDF or to perform alternative service primarily in its desire to become a full member of society and enjoy all the privileges of demobilized Israeli soldiers. “Of course, a certain part of the local Arab youth,” said Yusuf Ahmedi, “is tired of the anti-Israeli fuss of their senior Israeli compatriots, who for decades still enjoy almost all the benefits of the Jewish state.” Continuing his thought, Major Ahmedi says that the current enlightened Arab youth environment simply does not want to leave this unfortunate "almost" to his generation.
If among the Israeli Druze, Circassian and Bedouin there are a lot of generals and senior officers, among Muslim Arabs no one has reached the rank of general. It is possible that the first will be Hisham Abu Vari. To date, he is the first officer of the IDF among Muslim Arabs, who reached the rank of major. It is clear that Hisham chose voluntary military service. Explaining his action, he said: "Every citizen is obliged to serve his country."
Today is Hishamu Abu Vari 28 years. His father, Khaled, is a construction contractor by profession, and his mother, Chania, is a housewife. They have 14 children. Despite the relative wealth of the family, which gave the profession of the father, Hisham already in 10 years had to look after the cattle. He studied well at school, but after it ended, he collected tiled roofs for two years. It is important to note that all Hisham brothers and sisters have graduated from universities or colleges, and one of the brothers recently completed medical education in Russia.
Hisham first graduated from the pedagogical department of an Israeli university and worked as a teacher for over a year. He was already 23 of the year, when his brother Dorid was the first in the family to become an IDF soldier.
“Dorid was a model for me,” Hisham later recalled. “Prejudices did not act on him, he sincerely loved Israel and hated the terrorists hiding behind the banner of Islam.” IDF soldier Dorid Abu-Wari died, seriously injured during an operation against Palestinian militants.
After the death of Dorid, Hisham considered himself obliged to replace his brother, joining the ranks of the IDF. His act was appreciated in the family. He felt special support from his uncle, an Israeli police officer. Unfortunately, not all the villagers and friends share the beliefs of Hisham. As soon as he put on the IDF uniform, his bride broke off relations with him. Of course, the influence of the bride’s family, which did not conceal its hostility towards the Jewish state, affected. Yes, and many old friends living in Arab villages and neighborhoods of Israeli cities, fearing extremist tricks from their fellow tribesmen, just in case, ended the relationship with Hisham.
“Unfortunately, extremist and radical organizations have a significant influence on the Arab sector,” explains IDF Major Hisham Abu-Vari’s rejection of his action by most fellow countrymen. - Many Arab teenagers, instead of studying or working, get stuck in gangs, for which throwing Israeli cars at stones has become the main attraction. No wonder that these guys are a little up, as many of them are ready to join the ranks of suicide bombers. ”
And yet Hisham is not alone. Today, hundreds of Arabs serve in the IDF. True, most of them hardly look for Zionist motives. In this case, the reason is purely pragmatic, it was mentioned above: the army is the entrance ticket to Israeli society. Who served in the IDF gets the opportunity to continue training at the expense of the army or try yourself in the field of entrepreneurship. A warrior demobilized from the Israeli army has the right to special discounts and financial assistance for the purchase of housing. Of course, he has the opportunity to get a prestigious job in state-owned enterprises. Again, neither religion nor membership in any national or ethnic community are important. Today, hundreds of Muslims study at the IDF’s officer courses only, and there are quite a few Arabs among them.
And although, according to Abuwari, the potential for conscription in the Arab sector is large enough, many Arabs, military personnel, before entering their village or city block, remove the IDF form.
With Hisham Abu-Wari, Mohammed Salahi, his compatriot, who is just completing the IDF officer courses, does not agree. Mohammed is convinced that all citizens of Israel are obliged to defend their state and "let them be ashamed of those who, under the guise of belonging to a particular religious denomination, evade this duty." Mohamed proudly wears the form of the IDF and does not fear the slanting glances of some of the fellow villagers.
An interesting point of view is on Muslim Muslims, soldiers of the IDF, former adviser to Arafat, Palestinian commentator Ahmed Bakai. In his opinion, the bloody opposition of the moderate Fatah and extremist Hamas, two Palestinian organizations, led to a sharp decline in the authority of both. A certain part of the Arab youth, Israeli citizens, in the search for a stable benchmark, chose the IDF, which makes it possible to ensure the professional and material development of the young man.
In a conversation with an NVO correspondent, Mohamed Salahi, reminding me of the Arabic proverb “One hand does not clap one's hands” (corresponds to the Russian proverb “One is not a soldier in the field”), he said: “Today the Arabian guard of the Israeli army has become a reality. In this case, Mohamed Salahi is right. But whether this “guard” will grow - time will tell.
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