Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of the Israel Defense Forces, the combined military forces of Israel.
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Fast Forward IDF Using Virtual Reality Headsets To Prepare For Next Gaza War
The Israeli Defense Forces are using virtual reality headsets in order to train soldiers how to navigate and fight in Hamas’ network of underground tunnels. The IDF began utilizing technology made by the Facebook-owned Oculus and the Taiwanese program HTC Vive in April, Bloomberg News reported Monday. Despite costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, the…
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Fast Forward IDF Nixes Feminism Course For Women Officers, Anticipating Religious Backlash
The Israel Defense Forces canceled a series of feminism workshops for its top female officers, after deciding the activity would antagonize religious elements that want to limit women’s military role. Titled “Preparation for the Development of Gender Consciousness and Leadership,” the program would have taught women officers the basics of feminist thought and encouraged them…
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Community The Price of War
As an Israeli who fought at the age of 19 in 1973 Yom Kippur War and spent 35 years as a soldier and commander of the Israel Defense Forces, I have learned many lessons over the course of my lifetime about the price of war and the limits of what it can achieve. One lesson…
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Israel News Meet Shachar Erez, Israel’s First Transgender IDF Officer
Coming out as transgender can be difficult to do even once. Shachar Erez did it twice. First, when he was 16 years old. But then he joined the Israeli military and went back into the closet. He enlisted as a female, worried that his identity could complicate his service. And then, a year and a…
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Breaking News Gaza Rocket Attack On Ashkelon Prompts IDF Response
JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israel’s military targeted two Hamas positions in the northern Gaza Strip hours after two rockets were fired from Gaza at southern Israel. One of the rockets fired on Saturday landed near the southern Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon and the second appeared to fall in Gazan territory. The launches triggered the Code…
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Breaking News Israeli Drone Reportedly Kills Syrian Truck Driver On Road To Damascus
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Syrian man was killed when the truck he was driving in the Quneitra region of the Golan Heights on the road to Damascus allegedly was fired on by an Israeli drone, Syrian media is reporting. The Israel Defense Forces is not commenting on the alleged air strike, neither confirming nor denying the…
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Fast Forward Israeli Orthodox Rabbis Say Women Shouldn’t Serve In Mixed Combat Units
Religious Zionist rabbis are calling on their followers not to enlist in mixed-gender combat units after the the Israeli Defense Forces announced an initiative to bring more women into combat roles. Several leading religious Zionist rabbis, who are usually supportive of military service in their communities, issued a letter saying that combat units don’t provide…
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Community The Burdens of Jewish Power
When we read the Book of Esther to celebrate Purim, many Jews see it as a classic Jewish story: “they tried to kill us. We won. Lets eat!” The book of Esther does contain a typical story of Jewish victimhood and Jewish survival: Haman tried to kill the Jews, but then Esther and Mordechai rose…
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