Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of the Israel Defense Forces, the combined military forces of Israel.
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The Latest
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Life The Gaza Twitter War
With the advent of the conflict in Gaza, known by the hashtags #gazaunderattack or #pillarofdefense, it’s a surreal moment to be a citizen of this earth. For perhaps the first time on this scale, a war is being waged both in real life and on Twitter simultaneously. As rockets and bombs fall, as children lie…
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Breaking News Israeli Army Resisted March to Iran War
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak ordered Israeli defence chiefs in 2010 to prepare for an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities but were rebuffed, a television report said. Excerpts released on Monday of an Israeli Channel 2 documentary said the armed forces’ chief of staff at the time, Gabi Ashkenazi, and Mossad…
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Opinion Druze Soldier’s Body Found After 7 Years
A few days before the anniversary of Gilad Shalit’s return home from captivity in Gaza, the story of another missing Israeli soldier has come to an altogether more tragic end. Majdy Halabi, an ethnic Druze, disappeared in May 2005 near his home in northern Israel. Today, in a brief statement, the Israeli military said that…
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Culture Life During Wartime
The People of Forever are Not Afraid Shani Boianjiu Hogarth, 352 pages, $24 One interesting thing about a 70-year war is that, for those fighting it, it’s no longer interesting at all. Violence is just another form of monotony. Exhausted and dull of spirit, the soldier tries to keep herself awake “with sex, with hurt,…
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News From IDF to the Catwalk
Walking into New York’s Lincoln Center, a venue at this year’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, is like entering an alternate universe. Muscled security guards watch over the doors, making sure only ticket-holders or grungy looking camera crews make it past their presence. Back stage, models, who all seem to look alike, disappear in and out of…
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Opinion ‘Bibi Can’t OK Iran Strike As Defense Chiefs Demur’
Ynet’s Atilla Shomfalvi quotes unnamed government insiders who say Prime Minister Netanyahu can’t order a military strike against Iran, even though it’s his decision to make, because the security establishment is unanimously opposed and the cabinet won’t approve an action over the defense chiefs’ opposition. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared last night [Tuesday] that he…
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The Schmooze IDF Bikini Babe Goes Viral
It’s not the first time a female Israeli soldier has been photographed in a bikini, but it might be the first time that soldier had a gun strapped to her back. And for some reason, that weapon makes all the difference. Maxim’s spread of bikini-clad IDF soldiers got 69 Facebook likes in the five years…
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Opinion Father’s Lament for Son Who Should’ve Served
My oldest son, now 19, studies in yeshiva full time. I ask him, almost every day: “When will you do army service?” I say: “A person with an iPhone or laptop should be in the army!” This is my common refrain, one my children have heard so many times at the table on Saturday afternoons…
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Culture How a son of Holocaust survivors joined a commune and helped to free ‘Hurricane’ Carter
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