UNM Israel Alliance

Young Arab-Christian-Israeli Woman Makes her Parents Proud

Left: Elinor Joseph is not only wise, brave and good-hearted, but also beautiful!

Israel National News – Cpl. Elinor Joseph, a Christian Arab from Haifa, has completed an important stage of her combat training in the IDF’s Karakal Battalion – notable in that she is the first Arab female combat soldier in IDF history.

Having grown up in a mixed Jewish-Arab neighborhood, she attended an Arab school and later to moved to an all-Arab neighborhood. Her father served in the IDF Paratroopers Unit, but she never thought she would enlist. “I wanted to go abroad to study medicine and never come back,” she told the IDF Spokesman’s Unit. She said that her father expected her to enlist in the army, but “I was scared to lose my friends because they objected to it. They told me they wouldn’t speak to me. I was left alone.”

Ultimately, despite their opposition, she decided to enlist. “I decided to go head to head” she said, “to check who my true friends are, to do something in life that I have never done before. I understood that it was most important to defend my friends, family, and country. I was born here…. With time, when you do things from the heart, you begin to understand their importance.”

She originally thought she might like to be a combat medic, but “the placement officer laughed in my face and said I was too delicate. I started to cry.” She fought to receive a high enough medical categorization for combat placement, but it still took many months before she actually received a combat position.

“Arabs Also Kill Arabs”
After her basic training, Elinor took a medic’s training course, in which she was selected as the outstanding soldier of the course. She was assigned to a military police post at the Kalkilya crossing, east of Kfar Saba. “I enjoyed it there [and] liked the people,” she recalls, though she sorely felt the dilemma of serving at a border crossing. During moments of difficulty and misgiving, she now says, “I would remember that a Katyusha [fired by Hizbullah] fell near my house and also hurt Arabs. If someone tells me that serving in the IDF means killing Arabs, I remind them that Arabs also kill Arabs.”

“I treated everyone at the checkpoints in the same way, because we are all human. For this reason, no one reacted to me in a negative manner, and to tell the truth, that surprised me,” she said. “People knew I was there and that I wouldn’t hold my tongue if need be, so they had a constant reminder to treat the Palestinians well. But really, their treatment was always full of respect.”

Soon after, she tried out for a combat position in the Karakal Battalion – and was accepted, despite her commander’s desire that she remain in the Border Guard. “At first, I missed being in the military police,” she says now. “The relations with people there were very different, because I knew them not only personally, but also from a medical standpoint, creating a very intimate connection with people. But then I realized I was now in a new place. I got to know people little by little, and now I really love them all.”

Part of the Jewish State
Within the framework of her military service in general and her combat training in particular, Elinor noticed the emphasis that was always placed on the country’s Jewish-ethical identity, both in specific situations and in the general message passed over to the soldiers. It did not deter her, she says. “I know I am part of the Jewish State’s army, and therefore, when we speak about that, I listen and learn. I got used to it and I respect it, although I do not delve too much into the country’s identity. I have my own identity and I will respect that of the country.”

Right now, after finishing her combat training, she says wholeheartedly that she has no regrets: “It is a satisfaction to complete challenging things. I feel that in the army I matured a lot and became more responsible than I used to be… I have always been respected – not just me, but also my customs and my religion… My parents also are very proud of me, maybe a little bit too much.”

On the other hand, “I know that some parents of young men are not so enthusiastic if they go out with me because of my military service, probably because of the fact that I am a combat soldier. There were also people who read things about me and reacted in a very hurtful manner, but I have learned not to pay attention to it. I believe in what I am doing.”

Elinor believes that being a combat soldier means that she is granting all Israeli citizens, including Israeli-Arabs like her parents, a better and quieter life. “I still believe that peace will come, and faith creates reality,” she says.

Yes, tell us more about the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza…

Gaza Shopping Mall’s website

Paltimes
“Strip Mall” shopping mall central to the besieged

غزة– فلسطين الآن– افتتح في مدينة غزة أول مجمع تجاري مركزي من نوعه في قطاع غزة المحاصر منذ أربعة أعوام، بمشاركة حشود من المواطنين الذي قدموا لمشاهدة افتتاح المجمع الذي أطلق عليه اسم “غزة مول”. Gaza – Palestine now – opened in Gaza City’s first commercial centers of its kind in the besieged Gaza Strip for four years, with crowds of citizens who came to watch the opening of the complex which will be called “Strip Mall.”

ويضم السوق الذي افتتح مساء اليوم السبت 17/7 And includes the market, which opened the evening Saturday, 07/17 بمشاركة عدد من الوزراء والمسئولين في الحكومة الفلسطينية بقطاع غزة على محلات تضم كافة المستلزمات التي تحتاجها الأسرة من مأكولات وملابس وعطور وأحذية وأدوات منزلية ومكتبية وغير ذلك. With a number of ministers and officials in the Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip on shops that include all the supplies needed by the family of foods and clothing, perfumes, shoes, household appliances, office and so on.

وفي هذا السياق، يقول وزير الشئون الاجتماعية أ. In this context, says a minister of social affairs. أحمد الكرد :” إن سوق ” غزة مول ” سيساهم في تلبية الحاجات الأساسية في ظل ظروف الحصار من خلال توفيرها عبر التجار وجلبها عبر المعابر والأنفاق. Ahmad Kurd: “The market” Strip Mall “will help meet the basic needs under conditions of the embargo by providing traders and brought across the border crossings and tunnels.

وأوضح الكرد خلال حفل الافتتاح أن هذا المشروع الكبير سيسهم بخلق فرص عمل للعشرات من الأسر الفلسطينية من خلال تشغيل أبنائها في أقسامه المختلفة، موضحًا أنه تم توفير 50 فرصة عمل في المرحلة الأولى للافتتاح. The Kurds during the opening ceremony that this major project will contribute to creating job opportunities for dozens of Palestinian families through the operation of their children in different sections, explaining that he had been providing 50 jobs in the first phase of opening.

بدوره، قال مدير مركز التسوق صلاح أبو عبدو : إن “افتتاح (غزة مول) في ظل ظروف الحصار المستمر على القطاع وبأسعار منخفضة تشجع المواطن الغزي على الشراء يعد إنجازًا كبيرًا”. In turn, the mall manager said Salah Abu Abdo: “The opening of the (Gaza Mall) under the conditions of the continuing siege on the Gaza Strip and at low prices encourages Gazan citizens to buy is a great achievement.”

وشدد أبو عبدو على أن المجمع يساهم في إنعاش الاقتصاد الفلسطيني في ظل كونه سوقًا تجاريًا منظمًا من قبل العديد من التجار داخل القطاع مما يجعله ذا طابع وطني يدفع المواطن للتسوق من خلاله. Abu Abdo stressed that the complex contributes to the recovery of the Palestinian economy under the market as a commercially organized by many of the traders within the sector, making it a national character citizen pay to shop through.

وأشار إلى أن السوق يحتوي على خاصية تساعد الأسرة على التسوق من داخل البيت عن طريق جهاز الكمبيوتر من خلال خدمة التسوق الإلكتروني، موضحًا أن الأسعار ستكون ذات طابع منخفض وجذاب. He pointed out that the market has the property to help the family to shop from within the home via the computer through e-shopping service, adding that prices will be low in nature and attractive.

The war is coming, but it is a war from within just as much as a war from without. Self-perception defines Israel’s posture as she stands against a massive array of enemies who seek to destroy her body andher soul. Should Israel appease or stand tough, compromise or stand alone? What is the practical approach? Do realpolitik and pragmatism conflict with idealism, nationalism, and patriotism? Is the United States helping or hindering Israel’s survival? What is the future of Jerusalem, Bethel, Hebron and Tel Aviv?

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