Shortly after 9 a.m., the Rhinoceros plane makes a slow detour not far from Kibbutz Revivim in the Negev and releases an impressive strip of 20 paratroopers, paratroopers from the paratrooper reconnaissance, from the exit hatch for their first parachute into uniform.
A low altitude of 400 meters, about a second difference between a paratrooper and a paratrooper, and within a minute they are already on the hard ground of the south, exchanging experiences and licking minor bruises. Every fighter ejected from the belly of the plane knew that when the week's missions were over, he would receive the prestigious wing pin and be able to go home for a walk of impression in the neighborhood.
"One in two hundred trainees also has the soldier who won't parachute," says Maj. Shani Tamar, the first woman to command the parachute school. "Sometimes they are identified already at the ground training stage, and sometimes only on the day of the parachute, when someone gets a kneecap, clings to the plane and refuses to leave. At this point, he is transferred to the rear with the safety officer, who will guard him until the end of the parachute. When you land, you ask if he thinks he'll parachute next time.
"Soldiers understand that they will get their wings only after one night parachute and between three and four regular parachutes, so they fight tooth and nail for it, but when you ask them if they would like to get on a plane tomorrow of their own free will, they will probably say 'no.' It's not the most fun. It's scary and it can be both painful and uncomfortable. They carry out an action that defies logic, but one of the most important things in paratroopers is the commander's ability to know if he can trust the soldier during battle. Sometimes the Jump command is compared to the Charge command."
"Parachuting means overcoming fear at all." Paratrooper near Kibbutz Revivim, photo: Moshe Shai
"Stressful event"
Among the jumpers that morning was 19-year-old Yotam Turgeman from Jerusalem, a guy who, from a young age, didn't like taunting the heights. "It's a stressful event," he admits. "It's not easy to jump out of a plane, you need resilience. Parachuting actually means overcoming fear altogether."
Turgeman was not intended to join the elite unit of the Paratroopers Brigade. His uncle, Sergeant Yoav Ayalon, a soldier in a paratrooper reconnaissance, was killed in the First Lebanon War in August 1982 in a battle on the outskirts of Beirut, and Yotam's parents did not want the youngest grandson in the family to volunteer for the combat force. Since he was an outstanding student, he navigated to the Signal and ICT Corps.
"I was hired for a job that could have led me to an organized job after the army," he says. "I finished basic training there, but I felt it was hard for me to stand by and not be a fighter. It was important for me to go to the paratroopers, I really insisted. At first they said there was no option because the family asked, but eventually my mother understood. She saw how much it affected me. The day she agreed, I had already written letters of request and now I feel closure. My mother and the whole family are very proud of me."
Major Shani Tamar: "The paratroopers carry out an action that defies logic, but one of the most important things in the brigade is the commander's ability to know if he can trust the soldier during battle. Sometimes the Jump command is compared to the Charge command."
Who needs paratroopers in 2023, when there is a drone squadron and sophisticated cyber warfare? A paratrooper suspended between heaven and earth, as in World War II, sounds the most low-tech. If we go back to the history of Israel's wars, we find a single operational parachute drop in Operation Kadesh, before the battle for Mitla, that land passage between two mountains in the western Sinai Peninsula. For those who don't remember, it happened at the end of October 1956, almost 70 years ago, and those who parachuted there and are still alive will not be missed thanks to the parachuting wings that received the operational, obligatory red background.
"You need paratroopers, because first of all they are volunteers, unlike other units," says 88-year-old Lt. Col. (res.) David Ben-Uziel, who has wings with a red background. "The red beret attracts a great history, so the paratroopers must be better than the other units," he continues. "If the commanders don't understand this, then they're no better than Givati. I remember when I was a young lieutenant colonel and a colonel came to visit us and asked, 'How do your soldiers score?' and I answered, 'Not bad,' and he said, 'I asked, good or bad?' I didn't have time to answer, and the soldiers took their weapons off their shoulders and started bouncing cans with precise shots. The officer saw and left. Since then, I've always asked paratroopers, 'How fast are you scoring?'
"The paratroopers must be better than the other units." From right: Yotam Turgeman, Yigal Lifshitz, Nadav David, David ("Tarzan") Ben-Uziel and Yotam Vichter, photo: Moshe Shai
Ben-Uziel is from the Nephilim generation. Already at the age of 13, during the War of Independence, he served as a runner who moved between the combat units and learned to operate a gun. When he joined the army, he volunteered for the legendary 101st Unit, commanded by Arik Sharon, and when it disbanded he joined the 1954th Paratroopers Battalion in 890. The guys gave him the nickname "Tarzan" after he saved a boy from drowning in Nahal Naaman in the north.
"I'll tell you about our first skydive," Ben-Uziel asks. "We came with the 101st to a parachuting course at Tel Nof and it didn't please the paratroopers of the 890th Battalion, who saw us as competitors. They made sure to put our feet on us at every opportunity, so if we assume you hit your hand while parachuting, you knew you shouldn't complain, because if they heard, they would immediately reject you.
"I got hit on the first drop and I couldn't feel my hand because of the pain, but I asked my friends that the instructors wouldn't know and help me put my belt on, because I couldn't. That day, at the base, we received information that the paratroopers were going to attack us at night. We closed the door of our British pavilion with a pile of tyres and slept with clubs and pistols under our pillow. Do you understand what an old skydiving course is?"
"Part of the heritage"
A few hours after the young men of the cruiser finish parachuting, they arrive at the base in Tel Nof where Ben-Uziel and his friend from the 890th Battalion, Lt. Col. (res.) Yigal Lifshitz, are waiting for them. "I connect to the commitment to be the best, because we are constantly required to prove it," says First Lieutenant Nadav David, 22, a team commander at the Paratroopers Hospital. "I feel it from day one until now, and now I understand that it's been running in the division for decades. There is no such thing as resting on your laurels."
We sit in the room, veterans versus young people. First Lieutenant David and Yotam Turgeman is joined by Yotam Vichter (18), who completed his first parachute this morning. "Here is the answer to why to enlist in the paratroopers," states Wichter after getting to know the veterans. "At the end of the day, it's the striving for victory, the character and the education that gives us. And yes, the legacy these people tell."
Yotam Turgeman: "I was hired for a job that could have led me to an orderly job after the army, but I felt it was hard for me to stand by and not be a fighter. It was important for me to go to the paratroopers, I really insisted. At first they said there was no option, but in the end my mother understood."
Ben-Uziel looks at the three young fighters with a mischievous smile, asks, "Do you even know how the paratrooper's aura was born?" and doesn't wait for an answer. "In the early years of the state, the citizens of Israel saw that terrorists came in every night, and the question arose, 'Where is the IDF?' They didn't understand why the army didn't respond, and go explain that soldiers then ran away from an Arab guard who fired in the air.
"When the 101st was established, it suddenly became clear that reprisals could be carried out across the border. Promotions and returns. One in five will be killed, two out of five - there is no fear. When the chapter of the 101st ended, the 890th Paratroopers Battalion entered the picture. He produced company attacks followed by raids, and with them huge headlines appeared in the newspapers and the public asked who was doing all this. The answer was the paratroopers. You'd walk with a red beret on the street and you wouldn't have to raise your hand to get a ride."
Turgeman, who has been in the army for six months, asks politely: "Did you have to go through consolidation before you arrived?" Lifshitz replies that there were no such things then. "When I was drafted, I weighed 50 kilos and they didn't want to accept me," he says, "until Marcel Tobias [one of the founders of the paratroopers] came and saw me crying. He asked what the reason was, I explained that because of the low weight, they refused to join me, and I told him that I was the brother of 'Lief' (Dan Lifshitz, a veteran of the paratroopers - E.L.). Marcel knew my brother and asked them to accept me, otherwise I wouldn't be here. For each parachute I would go up with a 30-kilogram bag tied to my belt, otherwise the parachute would not have opened. I was always with 52mm mortar shells."
"Today the army is better because of the weapons and equipment. What did we have?" laughs Lifshitz, and Ben-Uziel adds: "Soldiers ask me, 'How do you compare us to your generation?' They have more to learn."
"In our time, when you enlisted, they said, 'Take up arms, you belong to this and that cell.' The mothers wouldn't call and complain," Ben-Uziel adds, switching to imitation: "'My son didn't drink enough, I want to get a lawyer'...
"I was Meir Har-Zion's acting director, and I take it as an honor and a privilege. At night an operation was carried out and by nine o'clock in the morning everyone was already outside to practice for the next raid. The soldiers of the battalion would call us 'the illustrious Company A.' Today, civilians guard the soldiers. Mothers intervene. M.P. tell me they call them. I would give a polite answer: 'Ma'am, if it's hard for your son, let him move to a less demanding unit.' Soldiers, their parents are worried anyway, what are you bothering them?"
Meir Har-Zion (left) and Unit 101 fighters, photo: IDF Archives and Ministry of Defense
First Lieutenant David is quick to advocate for his new soldiers: "It's certainly not what it used to be, the parents intervene and turn mainly to the company commanders, but that's their right and it's not common either."
Ben-Uziel recalls: "One mother called me, found someone to call. I told her, 'Ma'am, your son is now moving to the sergeant's tree side.'"
The young people tell the veterans how the first drop was that morning. Lifshitz asks which parachute it is, and First Lieutenant David shows him a picture of an American parachute, "Crane," which entered service seven years ago and replaced the Israeli parachute "Sabra." This is a parachute with a larger surface area, which makes it easier to parachute and certainly encounter the ground. Today there are far fewer injuries than in the past.
"Today the army is better than in our time because of the modern weapons and equipment. What did we have?" laughs Lifshitz, and Ben-Uziel adds: "Soldiers ask me, 'How do you compare us to your generation?' and I say that when it comes to technological capabilities, we don't exist, but in terms of fields and female soldiers? They have more to learn."
Do you think they'll ever have to parachute behind enemy lines again?
First Lieutenant David: "In the war in Ukraine there were operational parachutes. This is an ability that must be preserved in the toolkit and is also part of the spirit of the division and its heritage. Ultimately, a soldier needs to know how to parachute. Meeting guys who parachuted into Mitla will give these soldiers a lot of strength and strengthen the meaning of what they are doing. This is part of the ethos, and it is also impossible to ignore the fact that the courage of the fighter is also tested here."
First Lieutenant Nadav David: "In the war in Ukraine there were operational parachutes. This is an ability that needs to be preserved in the toolkit and it is also part of the spirit of the division and its heritage. Ultimately, a soldier needs to know how to parachute. Meeting guys who parachuted into Mitla will give these soldiers a lot of strength."
"We got on the plane - and it's quiet"
Mitla is a code name in paratroopers. All the big names were involved in the same battle. The brigade commander was Arik Sharon, Rafael Eitan was the 890th Battalion commander, Motta Gur the 88th Battalion commander. The battle that followed the parachute was bloody and claimed the lives of 38 fighters. Ten received decorations for their part in the battle, 13 received citations from the OC Southern Command. Alongside the heroism, there was also enormous criticism as to whether the event was necessary or unnecessary.
The backdrop to the battle was Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser's announcement in July 1956 of the nationalization of the Suez Canal Company. The canal was also an economic and strategic asset for the European powers, and on 24 October, at a meeting in Paris, Israel, Britain and France agreed that Israel would carry out a limited military operation in Sinai that could provide the two Europeans with an excuse to demand that Egypt and Israel cease its aggression and withdraw from the Canal Zone.
The parachuting operation at Mitla was essentially the same military move. No one talked about offensive action at the time, but more about demonstrating presence.
"We were ordered to go to the base," says Lifshitz, who was a young soldier at the time. "We asked what is the story? Amro embarks on a parachute ride in Mitla at 16 p.m., assisted by <> Dakota planes. A glue of four planes flying, parachuting, then another glue and so on. I was in the fourth sticker. We knew what we were headed for and thought they would shoot at us immediately after landing, but there was nothing in practice."
"אני זוכר את התדריך של רפול לפני היציאה, את הניסוח היבש והקצר שלו", נזכר בן־עוזיאל, שהיה אז קצין בדרגת סגן. "הוא אמר 'נצנח שם, השעה תהיה חמש, השמש תהיה במערב', כאילו שאתה לא יודע, אבל לא יכולת לצחוק, זה היה רציני מוות.
"כולם היו דרוכים והוא אמר 'יש לנו 20 דקות אור. כל חייל שיגיע לקרקע פורק את המצנח ודבר ראשון מסתובב עם נשק ביד. כל חייל יצוות לקצין, גם אם הוא לא המפקד שלו. אנחנו הולכים מערבה'".
הפתעה חיכתה לצונחים כשהגיעו למסלול ההמראה בתל נוף ופגשו את הציוד. מתברר שבאותו יום החליפו להם למצנחים צרפתים חדשים והמדריכים לימדו אותם במקום כיצד לתפעל, ממש רגע לפני ההמראה.
"אתה עומד כמו ילד שלא יודע לרכוס כפתורים ואומרים לך 'אם צריך לפתוח מצנח רזרבי, תמשוך פה'", נזכר בן־עוזיאל. "זו תחושה לא נוחה. היינו צריכים לקחת איתנו מים, ציוד, תחמושת. אני לקחתי 500 כדורי עוזי, שזה חתיכת משקל. נכנסנו למטוס - ושקט. מדריך הצניחה הוותיק ניסה לספר בדיחות כדי להפיג את המתח, אבל שום דבר לא עבד. אתה צונח בעומק שטח האויב, לא יודע מי נגד מי וכל מה שיש לך זה רובה. אין חיל אוויר מעליך, אין טילים ואין חילוץ. זה לא צה"ל המתוקתק של היום".
כמה לוחמים הייתם?
"בסך הכל צנחו 390 איש. דלתות המטוס נפתחו ואני הייתי שלישי בתור, אחרי שני הרמט"כלים לעתיד רפול ומשה לוי, 'משה וחצי'. אני זוכר שכשהגענו לקרקע חטפתי מכה וזרם לי דם מהאף כמו מים, אבל מי התייחס? הסתכלתי סביבי וראיתי חייל שוכב ולא זז. ניגשתי אליו, וזה היה יעקב גורני שאמר 'אני לא יכול לקום'. היו לו שני שברים ברגל. אמרתי לו 'שים יד על העורף שלי ונסה להתרומם', אבל הוא הלך 30 ס"מ ונפל.
"גורני אמר לי שיש לו תשע פצצות בזוקה וביקש 'תשאיר אותי לבד, אני כבר אזחל ואגיע אליכם', אבל אני הייתי מנוול יצירתי ועניתי 'לא אשאיר אותך חי'. הוא נבהל, ושנים אחרי זה אמר 'חשבתי שהמטורף הזה עוד יהרוג אותי'.
"בכל מקרה, היו עלי 500 כדורי עוזי, תרמיל, תשע פצצות בזוקה וגורני, ואני כולה שוקל 60 קילו. עשינו צעד ונפלנו. 200 מטרים מאיתנו ראיתי שני צנחנים וקראתי להם. אמרתי לגורני 'שים עליהם יד ודרוך על הרגל הבריאה'. הלכנו מערבה כשעה וחצי וכשהגענו למקום הכינוס היה צריך לחפור שוחות. כל הלילה חפרתי באדמת הסלעים ואז הגיע הרופא ושאל אם יש לי שוחה מוכנה. עניתי שכן והוא שאל 'מוכן לתת אותה לפצוע?'. אמרתי 'ברור, מי הפצוע?' גורני".
בן־עוזיאל: "בזמננו, כשהתגייסת, האימהות לא היו מתקשרות". סג"מ דוד: "ההורים פונים בעיקר למפקדי הפלוגה, אבל זו זכותם וזה גם לא נפוץ". בן־עוזיאל: "אמא אחת התקשרה אלי, אמרתי 'גברתי, הילד עובר לסייד עצים אצל הרס"ר'"
"תוך כדי התארגנות הגיעו שני מטוסי קרב מצריים והחלו לרסס אותנו במקלעים. אם היו נותנים לי לצייר את פני הטייסים - הייתי יכול לעשות זאת. עד כדי כך הם היו קרובים".
סג"מ דוד מתפלא שהמטוסים ירו ממקלעים ולא הטילו פצצות, ובן־עוזיאל מודה שהמהלך המצרי הפתיע גם אותו. "אין לי הסבר, מטוסי חיל האוויר שלנו לא היו בסביבה. מבחינת המצרים להגיע אלינו היה עניין של דקות, אז זרוק שתי פצצות ותגמור את גדוד 890. אבל המטוסים המצריים נעלמו. אני חושב שהיתה להם רתיעה מאיתנו".
קרב עקוב מדם
אריק שרון, מח"ט הצנחנים, לא ידע בזמן אמת על העסקה בין צרפת ובריטניה לישראל, ושתפקידו הוא רק להתגרות באויב. הפקודה היתה להתייצב בפתח המיתלה ולא לכבוש אותו, אבל שרון לא היה אף פעם איש צבא פסיבי. הוא לחץ להיכנס למעבר, אולם מהמטכ"ל נתנו פקודה ברורה שיישאר במקומו.
שרון הודיע שרק ישלח סיור, אבל לא היה מודיעין שגילה לכוחות הישראליים שהצבא המצרי אורב שם וקרב עקוב מדם התפתח בתוך מעבר המיתלה.
"הביקורות על הקרב מוצדקות", ליפשיץ משוכנע גם היום. "המטרה של הגדוד היתה לתפוס את המעבר. לא אמרו לנו שום דבר מעבר לזה, וכמובן לא ידענו שיש כוחות מצריים כי לא היה מספיק מודיעין. חטפנו מכה רצינית. המ"פ שלי, עובד לדיז'ינסקי, וסגנו חיים מצליח נהרגו. איבדנו שם סתם חיילים וקצינים".
לוחמי גדוד 890 של הצנחנים אחרי הצניחה במיתלה, צילום: רויטרס
בן־עוזיאל לא מסכים עם גרסת חברו. "אריק שרון נקט פעולה עצמאית כי הוא היה המפקד בשטח והוא קרא את האזור. הוא לא היה יכול לומר 'אני מופקד על האנשים ויש כאן מקום שאין לי שליטה עליו'.
"I've known Eric since 1953, I've heard briefings from him before every action and they've always been level-headed, not like his wild image, the one who runs forward indiscriminately. Moshe Dayan said an important sentence, which went something like this: 'It is better to fight gallant horses when the problem is how to stop them, than to push and accelerate stubborn mules.' It will make you laugh, but I was told at the time, 'Take the platoon and stop an Egyptian armored brigade that intends to enter through the Mitla crossing.' Did you hear well? I sit with the platoon and we have one bazooka against a tank brigade. No kidding."
Lifshitz: "The criticisms of the battle at Mitla are justified. The goal was to seize the crossing, they didn't tell us anything more, and of course we didn't know there were Egyptian forces because there wasn't enough intelligence. We were dealt a serious blow, we just lost soldiers and officers there."
In that battle there were stories of heroism that are passed on to the paratroopers' recruits to this day, such as that of Private Yehuda Ken-Dror, who was the driver of Aharon Davidi, one of the brigade's senior commanders, and "swayed" to drive a jeep into the crossing, in order to draw the fire of the Egyptians and reveal their location. Ken-Dror was seriously wounded and later succumbed to his wounds.
"I heard that when Davidi was looking for a volunteer for action, among other things, Raful offered himself," Ben-Uziel says. "Davidi decided that Ken Dror would come out and they say it was all gray, because he apparently understood that he was heading towards his death. He died and received the Medal of Valor."
It sounds extreme to make such command decisions.
"I gave a lecture about Unit 101 and said that there were no conditions, such as rescue or contact. We walked around with no discs on our necks. You will be caught and you are like a citizen, there is no Geneva Convention to help. Someone in the audience said, 'It's irresponsible to send you like that,' and I replied, 'You're commanding the 101st instead of Eric, and the year is 1953. There are no helicopters, no rescue, forget everything we know - are you carrying out the operation or waiting ten years?' He was silent. Only when you come objectively to analyze the conditions can you get the right insights."
Ben-Uziel: "Arik Sharon took independent action because he was the commander in the field. He couldn't say, 'I'm in charge of the people and there's a place here that I have no control over.' I knew Eric from 1953, he wasn't like the wild image he got, the one who ran indiscriminately."
Is it right to raise the younger generation on the legacy of Mitla, or is it a half-default glorification?
Ben-Uziel: "There's the parachute and there's the battle, you have to separate them. The parachute was conducted in an exemplary manner, without incident. As for the battle, they killed Eric, but the simplest thing is to criticize. If I put myself in his place, there is an uncontrollable place before me and at any moment the Egyptians can emerge and attack, what do I do? I am the commander."
"Look for water in the backs"
I ask the young paratroopers if they are satisfied that they are living in a less orderly and chaotic period than the early years of the state. "If this were the situation today, I think we would try to solve it with the means at our disposal," Turgeman, who spent six months in the army, answers, "but we don't forget that thanks to these people we are here."
Wichter: "I think the comparison between today and the past is wrong. Even today, we are in a constant campaign against the enemy in our region."
Ben-Uziel hears and says: "I would tell the soldiers that I am not an abuser, I just need to bring them mental resilience so that during battle they will not panic and put their hands on their heads like the Syrian soldier I took prisoner. I took out my soul for them, but neat. Hear a story: August 1954, the entire 890th Battalion made a platoon journey across the country, and what became of my platoon? Make a journey from Mount Sodom to Ein Gedi."
You've probably stopped your workouts because of heat stress.
Ben-Uziel doesn't even smile. "I asked Meir Har-Zion, 'What about water?' Today, when you make such a journey, there is a tanker that helps, except for the full bottles. Mount Zion said, 'Look for water on your back.' I have 30 soldiers, a week will take such a journey, and he still asks, 'Climb up to Masada and tell them what Elazar Ben Yair said there.'
"We arrive at Ein Bokek at 12 noon, the whole department is sighing with exertion, and what do I do if one of them gets bitten by a snake? I have no contact and no way to evacuate them. No one cared whether I was alive or dead.
"So there are two angles to the story: one is irresponsible for making such a journey at all, and another that throughout the entire period of the 101st and the 890th Battalion they trust you as a commander, no matter if you are a sergeant or a corporal. I brought my soldiers intact to the finish point, none of them fainted and no one touched the water without my permission. In the end, I told them: 'You volunteered for the paratroopers and I wanted to see if you would break. You didn't break down – and I appreciate that.'"
Lifshitz says they were once taken on a 230-kilometer journey with one water tank. First Lieutenant David asks if it was to practice a situation in which during battle there will be distress, and Lifshitz smiles understandingly: "It was just because Pichotka (Brig. Gen. [res.] Ephraim Hiram - E.L.] decided that we walk 230 kilometers with water and that it is permissible to drink only when the commander says, 'Take out water, take a sip, another one, close.' Is. A soldier who was with me became dehydrated and I ran to get help from the Beit Shemesh police."
Today they would put you on trial.
Ben-Uziel: "Then I would stand at trial and say to the court: 'Dear friends, you are not worthy of your uniform. I'm talking about contact with a soldier and I'm talking about leading him into battle, and you don't understand anything about it. Whoever doesn't understand, put on his pajamas and hang up his uniform.'
"Realize a situation we experienced then. 1957, a completely quiet period, no one shoots. Raful was the battalion commander. I went out of the base gate with my soldiers and he saw us and said, 'Come back and go out again, because as soon as you leave the gate you are in enemy territory. Go out in a proper movement.' To this day, it lies in my head and that's how I drive. That's why I said that today everyone is nice and cheerful, but even if you're in the middle of Tel Aviv, when you're in uniform you're in enemy territory."
Ben-Uziel, a military man at heart, pulls out a picture of himself in the uniform of the South Sudanese army, where he formed the rebel army in the late 60s and stayed in the African country for three years. "It's me with the rank of major-general," he boasts. "You understand what it's like to walk 700 kilometers in an operational journey. Are you thirsty? Boil swamp water. There were inhumane conditions there. I walked 40-30 kilometers a day in the forests with the local soldiers, and when I talk about resilience, I know what I'm talking about. These are not statements to impress. You can't take soldiers into battle with complaints, 'I'm thirsty, hungry, I can't.' There is no such thing. Let the court of the whole world come and accept the question, 'How would you act?'
"All my life I've been a lone wolf who doesn't conform. Politically I voted for Labor, but that doesn't say what my views are on the surrounding threat. That's another story. I don't run frantically to all kinds of slogans."
"Adapt to other threats"
Even at their advanced age, the veterans did not leave the paratroopers. Lifshitz's daughter, for example, was an operations officer in the paratroopers, his son was in the 890th Battalion.
Ben-Uziel says he parachuted with his two sons. "I stood first at the door of the plane, my son behind me. That was his first skydive, I told him, 'Eating zucchini is much scarier,' and I jumped."
Faced with the stories of the war with the Egyptians throughout Sinai in the 50s, there are young people today whose enemy is completely different. An elusive Hamas force, or that of Hezbollah, is quietly growing stronger in the north and there is no telling when it will seek to confront.
"Fighting for the sagging teeth." Major Shani Tamar, Parachute School Commander, Photo: Moshe Shai
"The enemy today is no less serious than in the past, it is simply less visible, more underwater, but it is still a danger to the existence of the state," says First Lieutenant David. "We're seeing his intensification." Wachter, the younger, adds: "The threats today are different and we have to adapt to them."
Ben-Uziel, "Tarzan" of the Paratroopers Brigade, doesn't like the discussion. As far as he is concerned, an enemy remains an enemy. "Oh, you," he sighs, "I have to be careful when I talk. From the age of 10 I have met Arabs, even before the War of Independence. I saw their hatred and absorbed it. My grandchildren don't know what to do with me, but I tell them: 'Listen carefully, although not generally, but the Arabs were and will be our enemy for the next thousand years, take this into account.' So don't be complacent and don't confuse your brain. There's a group that doesn't see you as a desirable neighbor."
shishabat@israelhayom.co.il
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