Minutes after they left the fierce fighting in Gaza, Harel's phone rang. On the line was Lieutenant Shir Adler, the IDF's criminal record erasure officer, with dramatic news: After 80 days of fighting in the Gaza envelope and the Gaza Strip, and shortly after they were released from regular service, Staff Sergeant (res.) Harel Azarzar and Staff Sergeant (res.) Israel Vaknin will receive a new page free of criminal records.
"It was amazing news," says Israel, "I feel that I managed to reach the top of the mountain. I always felt like I had a stain, and I didn't know how I was going to banish it from life. When we received the pardon from the president, it was a feeling I will never forget."
IDF Spokesperson
This is one of the most significant projects in the Education Corps, because it enables young people who made mistakes at a younger age to turn over a new leaf. Every year, between 100 and 140 soldiers receive a pardon from the president, after a process that takes place during their military service, allowing them to leave the IDF with a clean past and a much more promising future than previously expected.
"A real fix"
"I'm the only female officer in the IDF who deals with this issue," Adler says. "Every year we receive from the Meitav unit a pool of many soldiers who have an indication of some kind of criminal record. We get all the information about soldiers with closed files who have served their sentences. Our goal is to find the soldiers who, if they deserve it and make a real correction, will have their criminal records erased."
Israel and Harel, both fighters of Golani's 51st Battalion, who were discharged during the fighting in Gaza and became reservists, became good friends during their military service. The two, Israel Manhariya and Harel from Beit Shemesh, had until recently criminal records for violent offenses they committed as teenagers, but both decided to turn over a new leaf and enlist in the IDF as regular fighters.
Harel says that even during the months of fighting, the question of whether his criminal record, which weighed on him, would be erased, was on his mind. "I was a bit of a problem kid and got involved in a violent case at the age of 17," he says. During a soccer match, Harel got into a violent brawl, and was subsequently convicted. After serving his sentence, he realized that he needed to change his life dramatically. "I joined Golani after working with at-risk youth and passed on my experience to them so they wouldn't make my mistakes. I was told during the service that there was an option to apply for clemency. It gave me the strength to keep going."
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