The story of a 19 year old Irish girl who volunteered for the Israeli Defence Forces

[financeguy]

The Israeli Government's Official Website, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

http://dublin.mfa.gov.il/mfm/Data/184077.pdf

 

[DrTeeth]

On both sides of the conflict, the extremists seem to be pulling the strings. No way would I be volunteering for any of them. I'd rather volunteer in a hospital or something, if this conflict was so important to me.

 

[AchtungBono]

Thank you so much for sharing that, Financeguy.
That was a very heartwarming story - that girl sounds like a wonderful human being and I applaud her decision to see beyond all the rhetoric and bias and come here and see the truth for herself. Good for her! I wish her well in her service, and in life in general.

 

[The_Pac_Mule]

A different side to the flotilla raid

BEING in Israel during the ‘Flotilla Incident’
was one of the most sobering experiences I
have ever encountered.
I was stationed in the north of Israel at the
time, far away from the events on the high
seas, yet the aftershock reverberated
throughout the country.
Our ‘madricha’, the soldier responsible for us
volunteers, greeted us after the flag-raising
ceremony that morning in an
uncharacteristically depressed mood. Her
voice quivered as she told us what happened.
We were told that Turkish ‘humanitarian’ ships,
carrying gas masks, bullet-proof vests, knives
and axes, had been boarded and that the
boarding party had been attacked by the crew.
Israeli commandos came bearing mere
paintball guns and handguns to control the
mob. The Turks responded by setting upon
them with metal pipes, knives and stun
grenades, beating the soldiers.
As the ‘madricha’ spoke, tears welled in her
eyes — not of anger, but of despair. It was a
hopeless situation — either weapons would be
smuggled into Gaza, thus supplying
ammunition to Hamas’ terror campaign, or
else when the Israeli Defence Forces
intervened to stop them it would be a
propaganda victory for the ‘innocent peace
activists’.
The flotilla’s aspirations were obviously
political — the Gazans are far from needy.
During the last 18 months, more than one
million tons of humanitarian supplies entered
Gaza from Israel, equalling nearly one ton of
aid for every man, woman and child.
We volunteers were dumb-founded as we
scrolled through our phones and read western
media reports, each one damning Israel for
‘impeding humanitarian aid’.
Shortly after the flotilla incident, I attended a
peaceful demonstration outside the Turkish
embassy in Israel, and as Israeli flags whirled
above our heads, we all chimed with heartfelt
sincerity “kol hakavod Yisrael” — “Well done,
Israel”.

 

[maycocksean]

The thing about the Flotilla Incident is that it's been so heavily spun by both sides I don't know that we can say with any authority which version is the true one unless we were there ourselves (and even then our version probably would contradict that of others who were there). As with most things having to do with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict the truth is somewhere between the two versions you hear.

 

[financeguy]

Thank you so much for sharing that, Financeguy.
That was a very heartwarming story - that girl sounds like a wonderful human being and I applaud her decision to see beyond all the rhetoric and bias and come here and see the truth for herself. Good for her! I wish her well in her service, and in life in general.

You are most welcome.

 

[financeguy]

'People see me as a terrorist'
Cork student Cliona Campbell complains she is now victim of a 'hate campaign' after volunteering for Israeli Defence Force


Cliona Campbell: 'It was a massive culture shock, but very worthwhile. A lot of the days would be spent re-mantling guns and working with the soldiers out in the 42-degree heat'
Campbell: 'huge interest in the Jewish people'
12A 19-year-old Cork student who volunteered for the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) says she has become the victim of a hate campaign.


Cliona Campbell, who has just returned from two months working with the IDF, says she has received public abuse, emails and messages telling her to "keep her head down" after writing a piece for the local paper on her experiences.

"I came back after two months and wrote a piece on my experiences. Now I am getting hate mail and being targeted. I went into a clothes shop where I live and the security guard came up to me abusing me. My Facebook page link was posted online in a forum and I started getting emails telling me to keep my head down from now on. My friends started getting abusive emails soon after that too."

Campbell says she is upset at the personal insults that have also been sent to her.

"There were guys online as well saying that I was 'rough' in terms of my looks and bringing it all to a new, personal level as well. If I was a man coming back from being in the IDF, there would be none of that. That is the upsetting part."

She says most of the reaction has been because she spoke highly of her time with the army and maintains her own strong beliefs about their work.

"I got on really well with the soldiers. They were all there for their own reasons and had their own stories as to why they were there.

"I have a huge interest in the Jewish people and always have had so I had no hesitation about going out there."

Campbell joined the IDF after applying through Sar-El, a volunteering project that agreed to send her over to work for eight weeks.

"I took a crash course in Hebrew first and spent ages preparing. It was a massive culture shock, but very worthwhile. A lot of the days would be spent re-mantling guns and working with the soldiers out in the 42-degree heat".

She also joined a protest against the flotilla to Gaza in May during which the IDF murdered nine passengers on board one of the boats.

"I was a bit sad to be coming home, and now I've come back to all this discussion," Campbell says. "Some of the people writing to me and about me say they now see me as a terrorist and that they don't even see me as Irish anymore. I stand up for what I believe and I get hate mail and abuse, and I wouldn't mind if half of those people could back up what they are saying with a logical argument," she says.

'People see me as a terrorist'

 

[The_Pac_Mule]

That's fucking disgusting. Every one of those people insulting her should go take a field trip themselves to Israel.

 

[AchtungBono]

That's AWFUL....I'm sorry that she's suffering such attacks but I'm even sorrier for the close-minded people who decided to condemm her instead of applauding her.

Again, thank you Financeguy for following up on this story.

 

[financeguy]

That's AWFUL....I'm sorry that she's suffering such attacks but I'm even sorrier for the close-minded people who decided to condemm her instead of applauding her.

Again, thank you Financeguy for following up on this story.

Some of the things I've read on Irish politics blogs, you wouldn't believe. And the hate isn't coming from right-wingers, it's coming mainly people claiming to be on the left.

I'll probably never be the greatest fan of the state of Israel but a lot of the critics of Israel in Europe seem to only look at one side of the story.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Agreed. You can disagree with the actions all you want, but there's no need to treat people so harshly. That'd be like me insulting U.S. soldiers because of their involvement in Iraq. I've made my feelings on that conflict very clear, but there's no reason to treat the soldiers themselves badly. They've been through more than enough. And she's 19 years old, too, on top of it, for crying out loud. Really? You're gonna pick on a 19 year old, people? You don't have anyone your own size to battle with?

This can't have been an easy decision or task for her. But she seems to have handled herself with the utmost maturity and seems to be a hard worker, and for that I admire her . Fascinating story.

Angela

 

[AchtungBono]

Some of the things I've read on Irish politics blogs, you wouldn't believe. And the hate isn't coming from right-wingers, it's coming mainly people claiming to be on the left.

I'll probably never be the greatest fan of the state of Israel but a lot of the critics of Israel in Europe seem to only look at one side of the story.

You don't need to be a fan of Israel, or indeed of any country, to be a fan of the TRUTH.....

 

[The_Pac_Mule]

You don't need to be a fan of Israel, or indeed of any country, to be a fan of the TRUTH.....

+1

 

[anitram]

I think truth is just about the last thing you can find in a discussion on the Middle East.

Interesting read, though.

 

[maycocksean]

I think truth is just about the last thing you can find in a discussion on the Middle East.

True dat.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

thank you for posting this story. she is a brave young woman for doing something like this and I am sorry she is receiving threats for educating herself.