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British parents fear for their children serving as IDF soldiers in Israel

'It is a very frightening situation because for us, it is very real', said one parent

October 12, 2023 13:45
GettyImages-1715829635 (1)
TOPSHOT - Israeli soldiers take up position in Kfar Aza, in the south of Israel, bordering Gaza Strip on October 10, 2023. Israel pounded Hamas targets in Gaza on October 10 and said the bodies of 1,500 Islamist militants were found in southern towns recaptured by the army in gruelling battles near the Palestinian enclave. (Photo by Thomas COEX / AFP) (Photo by THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images)
3 min read

As news of the terrorist attacks in Israel broke over the weekend, parents in the UK braced themselves for their children to be called up to defend the country.

Israel has drafted a record 300,000 reservists in its response to the brutal assault from Gaza, with many of those called up being “lone soldiers” — troops without close family in the country. There are currently an estimated 8,000 lone soldiers in Israel, some of whom are full-time troops.

“My heart is in my mouth,” says Golders Green mum Rivkah as she faces up to the reality that her son Eli, 25, was called up on Shabbat morning.

“He always wanted to be in the army,” she told the JC.

“He made aliyah as soon as he was 18, and when he was 19, he served two years and eight months as a lone soldier.”

When she first heard about the attacks, Rivkah was desperate to hear that her son was safe.

When she eventually heard from him, “he told me he was OK but that he was on his way to Lebanon and that he had been given his gun”, she said.

“It is a very frightening situation because for us parents, it is very real. We are hearing terrorists trying to infiltrate close by.

“They just can’t afford to make any mistakes.”

Rivkah is part of a UK WhatsApp group set up to support parents of children fighting in the ongoing conflict.

“There are something like 50 to 80 frum boys from Golders Green there right now, and our hearts are all in our mouths. What can I say?”

As well as supporting her son from afar, in London, she has also been trying to support her whole family, who are naturally very anxious.

“My daughter was struggling so much with him being up near Lebanon and the bombs going off, and I keep saying to her that part of my strength, my Emunah (faith) is that we are in the hands of God.”

Rivkah believes that “when our time is up, our time is up, no matter where we are or what we are doing. I trust that what is meant will be, and I pray that what I want and what God wants are aligned”.

Like other parents in the group, she is praying that her son comes home safely and that “there should be no more deaths on either side”.

With the terrorist attacks and the war making the headlines daily, Rivkah wants “the world to properly realise who the Israeli army and the Israeli people are”.

She explained that the unit her son serves with had suffered many losses during the weekend’s terrorist attacks.

She wants the British public to know that while Hamas is a terror group who want to kill, “my son and his soldiers don’t want to hurt anyone. They want peace. They want to defend Israel. What the two sides want don’t marry at all.”