Military service in the Israeli army is considered the highest expression of civil obligation.
During World War II, Jews were enlisted in the lists of volunteer soldiers for the front. The Israelis fought mainly in British aviation. In 1948. in the Israeli army, it was decided to form a female volunteer corps.

Tsakhal girls

And already in 1959. the authorities thought and equated men and women in the compulsory right to serve.
At first, the women’s formations served for 1 year and 9 months. But then women become more and more equal with the male sex and begin to serve almost always on an equal footing.

Since 2003 the Israeli military, who need more training, serve 36 months - no difference for the half of the soldier. The military commission itself determines in which generations of troops the future female soldier will be deployed.

At the young age of 17, an Israeli woman must appear before a military commission, undergo a medical examination, tests and an interview. And based on the results, the commission decides which troops the future soldier will be sent to.

Despite the already established tradition in Israel, there is no debate over whether girls should serve in the Israeli army. Introducing the lovely Israeli army girls Kahal.

The rabbis are against the service of girls in the army. In their opinion, the fair sex deprives religious youth of the motivation to serve. Chief Rabbi Zaf Shumel called for the release of the army chief of staff, accusing him of proclaiming "radical feminist ideas." By the way, the Israeli army has "united" battalions, in which both boys and girls serve. I don’t envy boys. I would not be able to think about anything, about any war, except about such wonderful colleagues.

In any case, Israel is in no hurry to abandon the call of women to the service. The service of girls in the army is supported by one part of society, while the other is opposed. For some girls, it is a great honor to serve in the army. A fine soldier dressed in military uniform and holding a submachine gun in his fragile hands is a typical picture on the streets of Israeli cities. There are tens of thousands of women in the army. Girls are allowed to dye their hair, but the possible colors are limited.

When a tourist enters Israel, the first thing that catches your eye is the girls in military uniform. The Israelis themselves have long been accustomed to this spectacle, but for visitors - and for the exchange as well - the sight of young pretty girls in military uniform never ceases to be a wonder. I constantly wanted to take pictures of them, and at the same time I was, of course, embarrassed to do it openly. It seems to me that a forty-year-old man photographing 18-20 year-old girls on the street is somehow strange, especially if half of them carry huge machine guns with them.

So I had to shoot "unnoticed", which is why the photos came out mostly not very good. In this post, a few of those pictures that more or less succeeded - plus, I'll tell you where to find the best pictures of Israeli military girls.

1. We can say that girls in uniform are an Israeli feature. In many places in the world it is not unusual for a woman to serve in the army, but Israel is one of the few states where military service for women is compulsory on an equal basis with men. Who knows? When you see the first girl with a gun.

Military girls in Israel are like schoolgirls in Japan - both are incredibly photogenic:

2. Especially many Israeli soldiers are met on Friday trains - they all go home from their bases on Shabbat. At the same time, a soldier should always have a weapon with him in case of unexpected mobilization. The rules are believed to be designed to instill in young people a sense of responsibility and respect for firearms, and it seems to work. Even if soldiers get involved in some drunken showdown on leave, it never occurs to anyone to threaten each other with weapons.

3. However, like all people under the age of 60, the attention of off-duty soldiers and female soldiers is almost always riveted on mobile phones.

4. Occasionally you will see someone reading a newspaper.

5. And so, everyone buried their noses in the screens of smartphones.

6. Very rarely you can see that someone is talking on the phone. Probably this girl is calling her mother to tell her that everything is in order, so that she does not worry.

7. In principle, it is unusual for me to see people on the street with huge machine guns over their shoulder, and it is especially strange when this is a young girl of sophomore age who is typing text messages into her phone on the go, sometimes distracting herself from him to look at her feet.

8. I just stopped to read the message ... I don't understand weapons, maybe who knows what kind of assault rifles they carry, which are two-thirds of a person's height?

9. Nowadays, not everyone is given slot machines. When I was a boy, I dreamed that someday I would go to the army, and I would have a machine gun. I think, young, I would be very upset if I didn’t get a weapon when I got into the army. And from a practical point of view, this is probably a hundred times more convenient when there is no need to carry a huge trunk around with you.

11. For many soldiers, the army is like a kind of pioneer camp from which you can come home on weekends. Many return with suitcases.

As you can see, I didn't have very good photos of girls in uniform. But don’t worry - as promised, I’ll show you where to see the pictures much better. This is an Instagram account

A girl in a soldier's uniform with an automatic rifle in her hands is a picture familiar to every Israeli. In the Israeli army, tens of thousands of women serve in all branches of the army, performing their military duties on an equal basis with men. One of the founders of the Jewish state, David Ben-Gurion, said: “Military service is the supreme symbol of the fulfillment of civic duty, and as long as women and men are not equal in the performance of this honorable duty, one cannot speak of their true equality. The military service of the daughters of Israel is one of the foundations of the Jewish state. "

40s poster calling on women to join the IDF

All rights belong to Alexander Shulman (c) 2003-2009
© 2007 by Alexander Shulman. All rights reserved
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Alexander SHULMAN

Women in the Israeli army

The participation of Jewish women in the defense of Israel has a long historical tradition, rooted in the biblical heroine Deborah, who defended her country from foreign invaders with arms in her hands.

This tradition has been revived in modern Israel. Women played a prominent role in the underground militant organizations (Haganah, Lehi, Etzel) that fought for the independence of Israel. During World War II, thousands of women volunteered to join the British army.

There were dozens of girls among the paratroopers that the British command was preparing along with the Hagana to be sent to Nazi-occupied Europe. Many of them fought heroically and died in battles with the Nazis. Radio operator Hanna Senesh was parachuted into Yugoslavia, where she joined the partisan army. Being captured by enemies, she was tortured and died without giving out the secret codes of her radio transmitter.

War of Independence, 1947-1949 Fighters of the Jewish military formation

The Israeli Army Women's Corps was established on May 16, 1948. The first commander of the Women's Corps was Colonel Mina Ben-Zvi, who gained combat experience in the Haganah and in the British army, where she served as an officer.

Initially, it was supposed to form special female military units, but during the year it was decided to distribute female fighters to regular units, while maintaining a separate command of the Women's Corps. The command of the Women's Corps was entrusted with responsibility for all stages of the passage of women in military service, training, promotion in an officer's career, protection of the rights of women in the military.

Sergeant Esther Arditi, the first female IDF soldier to receive a combat award in 1955.

In February 1955, the Hazor airbase crashed and the Mosquito plane caught fire. Shells began to explode in the plane. The pilot, squadron commander Yaakov Talmon was wounded and could not leave the cockpit of the burning plane. Despite the mortal danger, 19-year-old Sergeant Esther Arditi entered the cockpit and pulled out the wounded pilot. Seconds later, the plane exploded.

For this feat, Esther Arditi was the first of the female IDF servicemen to be awarded a government award - the Itur ha-mofet medal. The statute of this award says that it is given "for the courage worthy to serve as an example."
Esther Arditi belongs to the ancient family of Italian Jews. During the Holocaust, her whole family died, she miraculously managed to survive. After the war, special rescue teams searched for Jewish orphans throughout Europe. Esther, 10, was brought to Israel with a group of Jewish orphans.

In accordance with the Law on Military Service, adopted in 1958, women must be conscripted for military service at the age of 18, fit for health reasons, unmarried, without children. For religious women, as well as for those for whom military service is contrary to their moral values, civil service is provided.

The term of compulsory military service for women is 1 year and 9 months, but in recent years it is gradually approaching 3 years - the term of compulsory service for men.

The female unit of the NAHAL brigade at the parade. 1964

At the age of 17, each girl must appear on a summons to her recruiting station. There she will have to undergo a medical examination, testing by a military psychologist, as well as determining her IQ. It depends on the results of all these tests in what kind of troops she will serve. She may be offered, within the framework of pre-conscription training, to take courses for mastering any army specialty.

A year later, when called up for active service, each girl undergoes a course for a young soldier, after which recruits are distributed among military units. Until recently, the girls served in the rear units as signalmen, drivers, doctors, computer specialists, aircraft technicians, and staff workers. Participation in hostilities for female military personnel was prohibited, however, female instructors are widely represented in tank, sniper, and sapper schools, where they participate in training specialists for combat units.

1956 Combat review at the officers' school

In recent years, there have been dramatic changes in the status of women in the military. They were caused by the active struggle of feminists to further strengthen equality between the sexes, not only in rights, but also in duties.

In 1995, the Israeli Supreme Court amended the Military Service Law to allow women to serve in combat units, as well as to study in officer schools for pilots and naval commanders.

In 1997, Ellis Miller became the first female flight cadet at the Air Force Academy, and in 2001, Lieutenant Roni was the first to be promoted to fighter pilot. For the first time in the history of the IDF, a woman, Lieutenant Colonel Shosh Kahlon, was appointed commander of a motorized infantry battalion.

In 2001, the Women's Corps was disbanded. Instead, the Office of the Adviser for Women in the Armed Forces was created under the General Staff. It was headed by Major General Suzy Yogev. These changes reflect a significant increase in the participation and influence of women in all aspects of Israeli society.

Major General Gila Kalifi-Amir, Advisor to the Chief of the General Staff for Women

According to the Defense Ministry magazine Bamahane, women currently make up 35% of the IDF personnel. Ninety percent of military specialties, including martial ones, are open to women.
As of 2009, in the armored and artillery troops 20% of the military personnel are women, in the rescue service - 25%, in the MAGAV border police unit 10%. In the Air Force: 25% -30% of women serve in virtually every squadron.

Over the past 10 years, the number of women officers has grown by 40% and today
twenty-six per cent of the officers in the Israeli army are women, and there is an upward trend in this number. True, they are still unevenly distributed according to military ranks - for example, if 44% of the officers in the rank of lieutenant are women, then among the officers in the rank of lieutenant the percentage of women is reduced to 12.

The IDF command decided, as an experiment, to begin the recruitment of women who have undergone military training in combat units, in particular in the military police and border troops, to the reserve service. Women who agree to be called up for the reserve training will serve as security services in Israeli settlements, including settlements located in Gaza, Judea and Samaria. For 10 years, tens of thousands of women were in the IDF reserve, which is 4% of all reservists. By 2005, their number had reached 10%.

Since July 2003, women with military specialties requiring long-term training have served, like men, for 36 months. First of all, this change affected girls - combat specialists serving in the air defense forces, artillery, border troops, naval commandos, aviation, tank and medical troops. These changes also affected girls - graduates of universities, serving in the academic reserve. Pilots and naval officers have been serving for 3 years for a long time (from the moment when women were allowed to enter the appropriate courses).

In September 2007, a special commission set up by IDF HR chief Elazar Stern recommended that girls be granted access to service in all divisions of the Israel Defense Forces in all positions, the Yediot Ahronot newspaper reported.

The commission that checked the service of girls in the army recommended that the IDF command change the conscription and distribution system so that the appointment of a certain soldier to a certain position depended only on his qualities, and not on gender.

In addition, the commission recommended equalizing the length of service for men and women. "The army should no longer have units in which women do not serve just because they are women," says the commission's report, which will be submitted to the General Staff in the coming days.

The commission recommended that the defense minister be left with the right to close certain units for girls, while emphasizing that "the likelihood of death or being captured should not play a role in this decision."

It is worth noting that at the moment the IDF has opened artillery units, air defense units, a light infantry battalion "Karkal", a MAGAV border guard unit and a biochemical protection company for girls from the IDF combat units. In addition, women can become flight mechanics, pilots and navigators in the Air Force units.

Major General Suzy Yogev, Adviser for Women in the Military at the IDF General Staff, believes that “women can hold any position and perform any work in the IDF. Currently, they have more career opportunities, and, consequently, they are more motivated to serve in combat units. The Israel Defense Forces must recruit professionals who will be selected based on qualifications, not gender. Women can handle any job and position, even in infantry units, so all combat units will be open to them. "

The sniper course, which ended in November 2009, will go down in the history of the IDF as the first course in which female servicemen took part. Moreover, they made up the vast majority of the graduates of this course - of the 16 new snipers, 13 belong to the fair sex.

All the girls serve in the "Caracal" battalion guarding the border with Egypt. Two of the graduates have already distinguished themselves, having shot down two smugglers who were trying to smuggle half a ton of drugs into Israel from a kilometer away, the Maariv newspaper reports.

Apparently, the graduates of the course will form the backbone of the sniper platoon of the Karakal battalion. The IDF leadership intends to create such platoons in all infantry battalions. The first platoon to join the 101st Airborne Brigade Battalion recently completed additional training.

Note that over the past two years, the number of women in combat units began to increase. This was a consequence of the decision of the IDF command to open a number of elite courses for women, which are still only available to men. Among other things, the Gefen officer courses, designed to train officers of elite units, were also open to women.

According to official figures, in 2008, women accounted for 3% of the total number of IDF combat units. In the Karakal battalion, women make up 70%, in the Snapir division of the Navy, which specializes in the protection of seaports, women make up 24%, and in the Nesher field reconnaissance battalion, 23%.

In combat support units and technical services, women make up 13.7% of the personnel, up from 5.1% in 1998. At the same time, the number of women in secretarial positions has halved since 1998.

In officer courses for staff officers and for technical and combat support officers, more than half of the cadets are women. In officer courses for officers of combat units, women make up 2.5%.

The Israeli Air Force has extremely strict criteria for selecting candidates for combat aviation pilots. Already in the first years after the creation of the Jewish state, the slogan “Only the best are pilots” gained popularity, and it remains relevant today. Combat aviation pilots form a kind of elite men's "club" with their own traditions, customs and superstitions, into which it was almost impossible for an "outsider", and especially a woman, to join. However, here, too, Israeli feminists won a convincing victory in the course of many years of intense struggle for the right of women to serve in the army on an equal basis with men.

Yael Rom-Finkelstein is the first female pilot of the Israeli Air Force

Yael Rom-Finkelstein (1932-2006) was the first woman to become an Israeli Air Force pilot. She was the first Western woman to complete a military flight course. Rom also flew seven types of aircraft and was the first female pilot in Israel to conduct a combat operation behind the front lines. After demobilization from the army, she became the first female pilot on a civil airline.

At the age of 18, after graduating from high school in 1950, Yael Rom-Finkelstein literally made her way to the pilot courses of the youth paramilitary organization GADNA. On the course, she was one girl among 30 guys, but she managed to become one of the 3 graduates of the course who received a referral to the Air Force.

Yael overcame a tough selection for the Israeli Air Force pilot school. At the pilot school, she took a course in fighter pilots, as well as bomber and military transport aviation pilots. She flew on Spitfire, Mosquito and Dakota airplanes. After graduating from pilot school, Yael served as an instructor pilot in a flight school.

During the 1956 Sinai Campaign, she flew a number of combat missions as co-pilot in a bomber and military transport aircraft. In particular, she flew to the bombing of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, participated in the landing. The Israeli Air Force Rom gave 10 years of her life, being consistently in military service, then engaged in professional training of new pilots, and then in the reserve service. In 1957, long before women began to be hired as civil aviation pilots in Western countries, Rum began working for the Arkia airline. In 1962, she gave birth to her first child and was demobilized from the army.

The Law on Military Service, adopted in 1958, banned the participation of women in hostilities for many years, and hence the service of women in military units and in the aviation. For women, only positions in the ground personnel of the Air Force remained available - aircraft technicians and aircraft engineers, officers and soldiers of the rear and airfield services.

Women's organizations and feminists continued a bitter struggle for the right of women to serve in the army on an equal basis with men. But the real coup took place already in the nineties of the last century and it was associated with the name of a young Israeli woman Ellis Miller, who openly declared her right to become a fighter pilot of the Israeli Air Force.

21-year-old Ellis Miller was ready to compete on equal terms with men for the right to wear "silver wings" ("silver wings" is a badge of a graduate of the Israeli military aviation school) - for this she had every reason: she successfully graduated from the Faculty of Aeronautics of the Haifa Technion and the course of sports pilots.

However, when in 1994 she turned to the Air Force command with a request to admit her to exams at the Academy of the Air Force for the course of fighter pilots, she was refused. The command motivated him by the fact that all potential candidates for Air Force pilots are required to sign a contract for a long-term personnel service in the ranks of the Air Force, but marriage and subsequent childbirth will not allow a woman to fully fulfill her contractual obligations.

The refusal did not stop Ellis. She continued her fight for the right to become a fighter pilot, receiving full support from Israeli feminist organizations. Within two years, Ellis went through all the instances, but even a meeting with Israeli President Ezer Weizman did not help her. Ezer Weizmann, a former military pilot and Air Force commander in chief, was never delighted with the idea of ​​seeing a woman at the helm of an airplane. When Ellis Miller asked him to help her plans to become a military pilot, Ezer Weizmann told her: “Girl, I disagree with you. Have you ever seen a man knit socks? " Weizmann's statement was widely criticized. He was accused of sexism and bias regarding the position of women in Israeli society.

Girl - instructor of the school of snipers

In November 1995, the Israeli Supreme Court upheld Ellis Miller's claim. By its decision, the Supreme Court amended the Law on Military Service, which allowed women to serve in combat units, as well as study in officer schools for pilots and naval commanders. In 1997, Ellis Miller became the Air Force Academy's first female flight cadet. However, she did not have to become a fighter pilot - she was expelled from the course, as she could not cope with flight overloads.

Ellis Miller's successful fight opened the way for other girls to enter combat aviation.

Soon three girls at once became cadets of the Air Force Academy: Sarah, Moran and Naama. (Their names are unknown, because in Israel the military censorship prohibits the publication of personal data of officers of combat units). They successfully graduated from the Air Force Academy and became navigators of the F-16 fighter-bombers. Sarah, the first to receive a navigator's diploma, flew combat missions in 2000, providing air cover for Israeli forces leaving Lebanon.

On November 21, 2001, a significant event took place - she completed her studies at the Air Force Academy and became a fighter pilot, Lieutenant Roni. At the ceremony of graduating cadets, Air Force Commander-in-Chief General Dan Halutz and Chief of General Staff General Shaul Mofaz presented her with the cherished "silver wings" of the Israeli Air Force pilot.

Lieutenant Roni was born in 1980 in a kibbutz, her father is an engineer, her mother is a microbiologist. This family has glorious fighting traditions: grandfather and grandmother Roni, Yitzhak (Antek) Zuckerman and Tsivya Lubetkin - heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Roni's grandmother, Tsivya Lubetkin, was a prosecution witness at the Jerusalem trial of Nazi war criminal Eichmann.

After graduating from the Air Force Academy, Roni served for two years as an F-16 fighter-bomber pilot. On account of her many sorties, during which she delivered missile and bomb strikes against enemy targets. Then, according to the Maariv newspaper, she became an instructor pilot at the Air Force Academy, combining teaching with combat missions. One of the leaders of the Academy says: “Only the best of pilots can earn the right to teach future pilots and Roni certainly meets all these requirements. She is truly an outstanding pilot, she has excelled in her flying work, and there is no doubt that she will be successful in training young pilots for the Israeli Air Force. "

According to the newspaper "Maariv", this training course for fighter pilots was completed by the second in the history of the Israeli Air Force, a female military pilot, Lieutenant N. Besides her, two more girls, G. and A., will receive "wings", who will occupy positions in the transport squadron and a squadron of Saar helicopters. After completing this course, the number of women in Israel Air Force flight personnel will increase to 17. At the admissions office before the course, girls make up approximately 5% of candidates, but in the last 10 years, when girls took part in the flight courses, only 17 of them successfully completed the course. - we are talking about a little more than one percent.

Captain Yifat, an IDF Air Force officer and pilot of the Hercules transport aircraft, became the first woman in Israeli history to hold the position of deputy squadron commander.
Yifat was appointed deputy commander of the B Squadron of the Military Transport Aviation. She is currently one of 17 women in the Air Force flight crew. In addition to her, the Air Force has female pilots of combat aircraft, combat and transport helicopters, as well as navigators of combat and transport aircraft.

Yifat began her military service as an Assistant Controller in the IDF Air Force Control and Tracking Department. In 2002, she took a pilot course and became a pilot of a transport aircraft. After completing the course, she began serving as a pilot of the C-130 Hercules aircraft in the transport aviation squadron. For the past six months, she served as the commander of the basic ground course of the Air Force Flight School.

Regarding the integration of women, the Air Force noted that according to the instructions of the Air Force Commander, Major General Eliezer Shkedi, all positions in the military aviation should be open to women.
"We congratulate Captain Yifat on the appointment, and we are confident that she will become the first swallow and an example for other women," one of the senior Air Force officers said after the appointment.

And the Navy, the most conservative about the service of women, is gradually opening its doors to them. Women are trained at the naval academy, many of them have become naval officers.

Navy officers

Now the turn has come to the elite units: two girls have appeared in the special unit of the Israeli swimmers-submariners. They completed a diving course and were soon enlisted in the submarine swimmer division. In accordance with the requirements of the IDF regarding the fighters who have undergone special training, the girls will extend their service life for a year on a contract basis.

Until now, only young men have served in the submariners of the Navy, who perform dives under water to a depth of 90 meters. This principle is becoming a thing of the past, following the once "exclusively male" profession of military pilots. Two young girls who completed the training course have already taken part in underwater operations and repairs, and also participated in exercises for laying and retrieving underwater mines.

After the girls were selected for the Port Security Unit (YABAN) and completed the Young Fighter course, they began training in the professional course required to serve in the unit. The course included training in the diving profession, as well as in patrolling and counter-terror skills.

After completing the preparation and passing the exam, the girls had to fight for a place on the course of the special forces of military submariners, which only a few people a year enroll in. The training on this course lasted for about a year, the girls managed to finish it, and in the near future they will be assigned to the unit.

"This is a very difficult course and I am very proud of the girls. A lot of guys have failed to complete this course," a member of the 13th Flotilla told NRG-Maariv.

But the brave girls had to confront not only heavy physical exertion, difficult training and rivalry with the guys. Not without poisonous statements that "women have no place in the unit." "There are no less chauvinists in our unit than in any other," the fighter admits. "But now they have to shut up."

The Israeli Navy emphasizes that the girls were accepted on the course not because the army decided to take another step towards emancipation. They did not receive any indulgences, and received places on the course solely due to their talents and capabilities, the IDF says.

Women in war - this topic is especially relevant in Israel, where women make up more than a third of the army's personnel. During the hostilities in Lebanon in July-August 2006, for the first time after the War of Independence, women fought in the ranks of military units, fulfilling their military duty on an equal basis with men.

Captain Marina Kaminskaya. Awarded the Insignia for her courage on the battlefield
Photo of the press service of the IDF

The participation of women in hostilities has been possible since 2000, when the Knesset passed a law allowing female military personnel to serve in the ranks of the military. Since then, most of the army specialties of combat use have been open to women and there are no restrictions on career growth in the branches and types of troops, whether it be armored forces or fighter aircraft.

It can be considered that the long-term struggle of Israeli feminists to achieve complete equality in such a primordially masculine form of activity as war ended in a complete and convincing victory for women activists.

At the same time, the participation of women in the fighting in Lebanon has become a topic of public discussion in Israel. Press attention focused on two iconic women soldiers. We are talking about Captain Marina Kaminskaya, awarded for her courage in battle, a high combat award - the Insignia of Commander of Armored Forces, and about Reserve Sergeant Keren Tendler, a combat helicopter flight mechanic, who died during the execution of a combat mission on August 12, 2006.

Military doctor Captain Marina Kaminskaya during the operation in Lebanon was the head of the medical service of the 52nd battalion of the 401st armored brigade. As part of her battalion, she entered Lebanon on the first day of the war and took part in the battles for the settlements of Qanatra, Marun ar-Rash and the city of Bint Jubail.

Captain Kaminskaya fought on the Bulance tank. The Bulance tank is a regular Merkava tank converted into a mobile medical center and equipped with additional weapons and medical equipment. During the battle, the Bulance tank is used as an ambulance, to provide first aid and to evacuate the wounded.

In her Bulance Tank, Captain Kaminskaya was in the midst of fighting on July 24, 2006 for the city of Bint Jbeil, the "capital" of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Tankmen of the 52nd battalion took part in the battle for Bint Jbeil. To evacuate the wounded tankers and infantrymen from the battlefield, the command sent a tank-bulance of Captain Kaminskaya. The bulance tank was covered by two ordinary tanks. One of the cover tanks accompanied the Bulance tank directly, and the second controlled the situation on the nearest approaches.

In the midst of the battle, wounded soldiers from the Golani infantry brigade began to enter the bulance tank. Among them was the commander of the elite special forces battalion "Egoz" Lieutenant Colonel Ariel Gino, who was seriously wounded - he was hit in the face by an enemy sniper's bullet. Captain Kaminskaya, right on the battlefield, gave him first aid, which saved his life - she treated the wound, put an IV drip, injected morphine, and then, under enemy fire, took the wounded in her tank-bulance to the helipad, from where the wounded were taken by helicopters to a hospital in Haifa.

The conditions under which Captain Kaminskaya had to fulfill his duties is evidenced by the following fact - during this battle, two tanks of the 52nd battalion were knocked out. In the crews of the destroyed tanks, one tanker was killed (Sergeant Kobi Smilga and Lieutenant Lotan Slavin). In the same battle, the commander of the 52nd tank battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Guy Kabili, was seriously wounded.

After the evacuation of the wounded, Captain Marina Kaminskaya again and again returned to the battle formations of her battalion. In total, during the fighting, military doctor Captain Marina Kaminskaya assisted more than 25 wounded soldiers.

Captain Marina Kaminskaya, hero of the Lebanese war, immigrated to Israel in 2000. After repatriation, she confirmed her medical degree and voluntarily joined the ranks of the IDF. In 2005, she, as part of her military unit, already took part in anti-terrorist operations in the Palestinian territories.

The life of another heroine of the Lebanese war, Air Force Reserve Sergeant Keren Tendler, was cut short on the last day of fighting in Lebanon, August 12, 2006. The IDF's offensive in southern Lebanon, launched on the evening of August 11, saw the largest amphibious assault in IDF history since the Yom Kippur War. More than 50 helicopters took part in it, landing Israeli units deep in Lebanon. In parallel, the helicopters delivered the necessary supplies and equipment to the units already on Lebanese territory.

One of the combat helicopters that took part in the landing was shot down by a Russian-made missile - Russia illegally transferred thousands of weapons of various types to the Islamic terrorists of Hezbollah.
All five crew members of the CH - 53 Sikorsky helicopter were killed: Major Sammi Ben Naim, Major Nissan Shiloh, Captain Daniel Gomez, Sergeant Ron Mashiach and flight mechanic Sergeant Keren Tendler. Keren Tendler had a chance to become the only female soldier who died in the course of hostilities. In an official statement from the IDF press service, then all the crew members were declared "missing, presumably killed." Keren's remains were discovered in a special search operation.

Keren Tendler's life ended at the age of only 26, but she occupies a very honorable place in the history of the feminist movement in Israel, becoming an example for many of her followers.

Air Force Reserve Sergeant Keren Tendler (1979-2006)
Killed during a combat mission

Keren Tendler was the first woman in Israel to become a flight mechanic for a combat helicopter. She owns the words: “My goal is to prove to everyone that such a purely male profession as a crew member of an attack helicopter and an aircraft is quite feminine. Women can be the same. cool aviation specialists, like men and even better than them "

Keren Tendler devoted her short life to achieving this goal. She graduated from the ORT vocational school in Rehovot, where her family lived. At school, she consistently achieved high marks in technical subjects. Her teacher Viktor Zilberstein recalls that he once asked Keren why she studies in her specialty, where there are no girls in the class besides her. Keren, 15, replied that boys are not the only ones to be well versed in mechanics and electrical engineering.

In the 12th grade of the Kren school, she did an industrial practice at the Tel Nof military airbase. Airplanes and helicopters became her true hobby. After graduating from ORT school, she was drafted into the army, served in the Air Force. Through hard work, she achieved a referral to the school of aviation specialists, where flight mechanics were trained. She continued her service as a combat helicopter flight mechanic.

A video dedicated to Keren Tendler. In the beginning - footage taken several hours before death in battle

I must say that fate has repeatedly tested Keren's strength. In 2002, a landing helicopter, in the crew of which Keren flew, crashed. The helicopter with paratroopers on board was performing a normal training flight when it suddenly began to sharply lose altitude. The crew had to make a decision in a matter of seconds, on which the lives of dozens of paratroopers depended. From the ground, it was clear that the helicopter dropped the fuel tanks, which had collapsed when falling to the ground. Amid the explosions and flames, the crew managed to land the helicopter safely. Flight mechanic Keren Tendler managed to organize the evacuation of the paratroopers from the crashed helicopter right in the direction of travel.

Then everything worked out - thanks to the skillful actions of the crew, the lives of dozens of soldiers were saved, the combat vehicle was also not damaged. Sergeant Keren Tendler was commended by the command for his skillful actions during the helicopter accident.

After being demobilized from the army, Keren entered the law school of the university. However, as a student, she continued to fly, annually being drafted for reservist training in the Air Force.

In July 2006, Reservist Sergeant Keren Tendler, along with many thousands of Israelis, received a draft summons and rejoined her crew. It was Saturday, August 12, 10:15 am, when her helicopter was shot down over enemy territory ...

Video about the motorized infantry battalion Karakal, in which the girls serve

Few people can be surprised by photographs of Israeli girls serving in the IDF, with weapons in their hands. Most often these are slicked beauties from Instagram, invitingly deflecting appetizing bulges. Of course, there are similar specimens in real life, but it is in the pictures of Rachel Papo that the beautiful half of the Israeli army looks as it really is. Her models are girls who are not always of a model appearance, often without a drop of cosmetics and other styling; their beauty is of a completely different order. And, together with the calm force, the personification of which is the weapon, this beauty makes a completely disarming impression.

Rachel Papo, although born in the USA (1970), has lived most of her life in Israel. After serving compulsory military service (No. 3817131, which gave the name to the project - its individual number), Papo returned some time later to one of the military bases to capture the life of the girls serving. Her photographs are a rethinking of her own experience and, at the same time, a reflection on the phenomenon of a woman who has become a part of the traditionally male world - the world of war. For thousands of years of history, the woman - the keeper of the hearth and the continuer of the family - has always been considered a kind of opposite to the war that takes life. The ancient Greeks singled out Amazons among the wild semi-legendary tribes, but they treated "cultured" Greek women, like Aristophanes in his famous comedy "Lysistratus", where women, tired of endless male wars, found a rather interesting way to stop them ...

One way or another, but even in our time, when emancipation and suffrageism gave way to four, probably, waves of feminism, a woman with a weapon in her hands is still perceived with a certain amount of skepticism. Do not think that the Pope wants to take one of the sides; her project is an attempt to understand herself and, through self-acceptance, to understand the rest of the girls. The photographer went through a period of loneliness and apathy in the army, when she was torn from the familiar world and circle by an eighteen-year-old girl. At the same time, her heroines do not look entirely unhappy - yes, a shadow of fatigue runs over their faces every now and then, they do not always seem photogenic and ready to get into the frame, but at the same time, they look livelier than any oiled dolls from social networks (by the way, Papo herself and Instagram does not disdain). Their daily work is training and study, in the desert, under the scorching sun, and not languid posing in city cafes.

Project # 3817131 may not give obvious answers, but it raises equally important questions, touching upon the theme of the “universality” of a woman who can give and take away life, be fragile and strong at the same time; also touching on common human categories, thinking about what responsibility is, the willingness to stand up for your life and your ideals, and about the price you have to pay for this.

When a tourist enters Israel, the first thing that catches your eye is the girls in military uniform. The Israelis themselves have long been accustomed to this spectacle, but for visitors - and for the exchange as well - the sight of young pretty girls in military uniform never ceases to be a wonder. I constantly wanted to take pictures of them, and at the same time I was, of course, embarrassed to do it openly. It seems to me that a forty-year-old man photographing 18-20 year-old girls on the street is somehow strange, especially if half of them carry huge machine guns with them.

So I had to shoot "unnoticed", which is why the photos came out mostly not very good. In this post, a few of those pictures that more or less succeeded - plus, I'll tell you where to find the best pictures of Israeli military girls.

1. We can say that girls in uniform are an Israeli feature. In many places in the world it is not unusual for a woman to serve in the army, but Israel is one of the few states where military service for women is compulsory on an equal basis with men. How do you know exactly when you crossed the Israeli border? When you see the first girl with a gun.

Military girls in Israel are like schoolgirls in Japan - both are incredibly photogenic:

2. Especially many Israeli soldiers are met on Friday trains - they all go home from their bases on Shabbat. At the same time, a soldier should always have a weapon with him in case of unexpected mobilization. The rules are believed to be designed to instill in young people a sense of responsibility and respect for firearms, and it seems to work. Even if soldiers get involved in some drunken showdown on leave, it never occurs to anyone to threaten each other with weapons.

3. However, like all people under the age of 60, the attention of off-duty soldiers and female soldiers is almost always riveted on mobile phones.

4. Occasionally you will see someone reading a newspaper.

5. And so, everyone buried their noses in the screens of smartphones.

6. Very rarely you can see that someone is talking on the phone. Probably this girl is calling her mother to tell her that everything is in order, so that she does not worry.

7. In principle, it is unusual for me to see people on the street with huge machine guns over their shoulder, and it is especially strange when this is a young girl of sophomore age who is typing text messages into her phone on the go, sometimes distracting herself from him to look at her feet.

8. I just stopped to read the message ... I don't understand weapons, maybe who knows what kind of assault rifles they carry, which are two-thirds of a person's height?

9. Nowadays, not everyone is given slot machines. When I was a boy, I dreamed that someday I would go to the army, and I would have a machine gun. I think, young, I would be very upset if I didn’t get a weapon when I got into the army. And from a practical point of view, this is probably a hundred times more convenient when there is no need to carry a huge trunk around with you.

11. For many soldiers, the army is like a kind of pioneer camp from which you can come home on weekends. Many return with suitcases.

As you can see, I didn't have very good photos of girls in uniform. But don’t worry - as promised, I’ll show you where to see the pictures much better. This is an Instagram account