Among the many Israelis evicted from their homes after the outbreak of the war are many young people of draft age. Recruitment to the field units began in recent days, and among the many recruits, the stories of two of them who were evacuated from their homes and decided to enlist in combat stood out.
Moshe Uri Haddad from Sderot enlisted in the Givati Brigade this week, with a sense of mission and intention to become an officer. Haddad, 20, studied until the eighth grade in his hometown and went on to a military boarding school and a pre-military preparatory school in Ali.
According to him, the war sharpened his motivation and desire to contribute to the country through meaningful service. "I feel very prepared, despite the slight concerns. That's what I studied and practiced for. I've been waiting for this for a long time," Haddad shared.
"I debated between Givati and Golani. My father was in Givati and I decided to continue the family tradition, I said it would do him good on his heart. I want to go into command and officers. That's my ambition. The vocation of the boarding school where I studied is command positions. I believe it and think it's the right thing to do."
Statement of the Chief of Staff, yesterday // Photo: Shmuel Buchris
Haddad, who enlists at a relatively late age, is eager to serve in the IDF and take part in the war for his home: "The desire to enlist in combat service only increased in me. The brother of a good friend of mine was killed after he left the house to fight the terrorists. I feel a bit missed that I've postponed the draft for now and that I'm still not fighting in Gaza. I have friends fighting there and I'm only starting the process now."
"I want to protect my home and my country, in the end it's really a war for existence," he says. "There were terrorists under my house on October 7, my family was in danger. My sister doesn't have a safe room, so she went to my parents' house and on the way saw bodies and fainted. Thank God, she made it," he says. "I never thought terrorists would enter Sderot, I never dreamed it would happen. I have friends who won't come back to live here if things don't improve."
Tel Hashomer Recruitment Office, this week. "Enlisting in wartime - exciting and challenging", photo: Yossi Zeliger
Haddad's family was evacuated from their home and moved to Jerusalem, but the family is imbued with purpose and faith to return to the south: "It's very difficult. We had planned to spend last Shabbat at home, but the attacks returned. We intend to return to live in Sderot. If it becomes possible to live in the kibbutzim after their rehabilitation, we may move there," he said. "We're in the realm of uncertainty, it's confusing. There is a ceasefire and then we return to fighting. This war is difficult and a heavy price is being paid for it. I believe that we will win, we will come out of this stronger and we will not go back, and that the people of Israel will be stronger and more united."
"Aiming highest"
Bar Raveh, who normally lives with his family in Shlomi, near the border with Lebanon, also evacuated to a hotel in Haifa and is preparing for his enlistment in the paratroopers tomorrow. 18-year-old Bear is part of a fighting family. Both of his parents are members of the security forces, his sister is a major in the military police, and his older brother is in the military police. Bar's level of excitement and vigilance increases as the draft date approaches: "From the beginning I wanted to reach the highest level in the army. I tried to get accepted into the cruisers, and after I didn't succeed, I decided to enlist in the paratroopers, to be the next generation to my family." On being drafted into the army during wartime, he said: "It's exciting and challenging. The period is difficult, but the situation only gives me another desire to contribute and make an impact, it gives me another reason to enlist."
After evacuating the communities close to the northern border, the Raveh family moved first to Bar Yokneam's sister's house and from there to a hotel in Haifa. "I have mixed feelings about being away from home," Barr says. "I understand that we went out of there to help the campaign and the war, but it's hard to get used to it. From time to time we bring clothes from home, you can see that there are soldiers in Shlomi walking around. At the hotel, too, we maintain a family atmosphere and do Kiddush and Friday dinners."
Raveh spoke about his ambition to join a paratrooper unit: "I intend to give everything I have and aim as high as possible, I want to go as far as possible, and my family helps and supports me as well."
Bar is convinced that now is the right time to defeat Hamas after Black Sabbath: "I think that what they did to us on October 7th was immoral and inhumane. If we don't change the situation, it will be much harder to return to where we used to live: both in the north and in the south. We thought it would happen in the north before it happened in Gaza," he said. "It's a bit of a problematic situation, but we're coping and we'll get through it. My parents intend to go back to live in Shlomi, we're a family of security personnel and I grew up on that too.
"I am thinking about a career in security," he adds, "The goal of the war is to bring quiet to people in the envelope, in the south or in the north for the next 50 years. It's important that it's happening now and I'm glad I can take part in this war, I feel ready and know what the risks are."
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