Yael Deri did not plan to become a ticking anchor, and certainly not to enter into huge battles against anti-Semites and supporters of terrorist organizations.
But the videos starring the transit fighter, revealing her activities at checkpoints and patrols, threw her into the information front with a million and a half followers.
@yaelderiofficial
## army ## foryou @ osherpahima17
♬ presleywalker - PresleyWalker
@yaelderiofficial
#foryou #army
♬ Original sound - Yael Deri
"The truth is that at first I did not really want to be a transition fighter," she says of the beginning of her combat service.
She is a resident of Be'er Sheva and a graduate of a religious studio.
"I come from a religious-traditional family. All my brothers enlisted but were Jobniks, came straight from the yeshiva to back positions. I studied in a studio, and I was exempt from enlistment, but it was important for me to do something different so I enlisted."
Yael Deri, Photo: Courtesy of the person photographed
In November 2019, two years ago, she enlisted in the military police and went to training, in preparation for becoming a fighter at the checkpoints that separate Judea and Samaria from Jerusalem and the center of the country. She took a platoon commanders course and returned as a commander.
@yaelderiofficial
#foryou #israel getting ready 🇮🇱💥
♬ AIN'T GONNA STOP - Carol Kay
@yaelderiofficial
#foryou #israel #army ❤️
♬ original sound - KEI
Already at the beginning of the service, she started uploading videos to Tiktok, like many of the IDF fighters and soldiers. "I would upload quite a few videos about uniforms, but nonsense.
Not a ticking star. "But over time it gained momentum." I uploaded a video that reached almost a million views, and I realized there was something here.
I started uploading more and more videos, and I realized that my audience is not only from Israel, many of them also from abroad. I realized that I have a gift in my hands. "
Along with amusing videos from her day-to-day life as a warrior, she also began to engage in tactical issues, as an advocate on her own.
"I would see in the comments that Israel is killing children, and I decided to change that, to explain that we are defending our country. It worked."
@yaelderiofficial
I tried not to laugh it was hard #foryou # 🇮🇱🇮🇱 #israel
♬ Know Yourself - Drake
@yaelderiofficial
Happy birthday MOM ❤️❤️
♬ Original sound - Yael Deri
The Be'er Sheva fighter has amassed followers with dizzying speed, sweeping crowds after her.
At the beginning of Operation Wall Guard, it already had half a million followers, and then the big break began, among other things, creating a real trend in Tiktok.
Those in the video app could not miss in the months of the operation the videos of soldiers and civilians who indicated support for the Israeli flag and opposition to the Palestinian flag.
Opponents of the terrorist organizations that carried out the opposite action stood in front of them - dancing towards the Palestinian flag.
The trend started no differently from Yael Deri.
"I made a video where I pointed to the Israeli flag shortly before the operation. There was a challenge earlier in Tiktok that had to point to preferred food, and I decided to take it in the direction of the flag."
This is a video that garnered about 800,000 hits, and which swept the tiktok after it.
"My biggest wave was in the Wall Guard. A war broke out in Tiktok - we are against them. I gained half a million followers, and I reached a million followers in total, within a month."
As a Tiktok anchor wearing an IDF uniform, she was subjected to a difficult attack by pro-Palestinian and anti-Semitic elements, and to this day every video she uploads has received many abusive comments. Deri, for her part, says she does not respond to comments.
Celebrities abroad tagged me and called to report me that I was killing children. Use my videos. One put my face on toilet paper along with the Israeli flag. Luckily I am a very light-hearted person and set myself the goal of explaining the IDF.
I stopped commenting. "
@yaelderiofficial
# 🇮🇱🇮🇱 #foryou #israel Oh no
♬ original sound - Corey Pech
She says she gets a lot of support from her family members for the videos.
"My brothers are frantically cheering. My dad is kind of a rabbi, and doesn't get into things like that, but I show him the videos and he flies on it."
Yael is currently on leave of absence from the IDF, and is examining what she will do in civilian life. "What will I do?
Good question.
I want to continue with the topic of information, and I am looking for an opportunity to do so in the future as well.
I will of course continue to create my own content because I love it.
I know there is a possibility that they will watch me less because I am no longer in the army, but it does not matter.
I did my part, I was able to influence some people. "
