Four soldiers from the Netzah Yehuda battalion fell in a Hamas ambush in Gaza on July 7, together with a fifth soldier not part of the battalion. It was the deadliest event in the history of the ultra-Orthodox battalion of the Israel Defense Forces.
Amid the grief I felt a deep pride in these soldiers, whom I knew as chairman of Nahal Haredi, a civilian organization that supports ultra-Orthodox soldiers in the IDF. These young men came from Haredi communities that traditionally oppose army service and attend schools that speak openly against enlistment. Yet they chose to serve. Some had to fight bureaucratic and social resistance to join a combat unit.
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