The IDF, a people's army

Some countries, like the United States, see the military as a part of the government, but not themselves. Unless of course they enlist. But overall it's a thing, like astronauts, that we can like, watch on the news, but not truly interact with. In Israel, this is different. Over there, military service is mandatory for most of the population (religious Jews and Arabs get an exemption). It is a country in which many of its borders and neighbors are in a state of war with it. Where tensions run high. Where the Army is one of the most important aspects of the state. It can always be called upon to do its duty.

History and geography have much to do with it. Since it's founding, its been fighting. Whether other armies or insurgents, something is causing problems. But we must take into account its size. It's a small nation, in which its major cities are reachable within an hour. Thus its relatively small population and its sizable army in proportion to it makes the Israeli presence much easier to find. It is not uncommon to see soldiers off guard with a rifle loaded in the mall or on the street.

But there, since conflict is so normal, the military is also normal. In the United States, police are common, and only in high value places like an airport or government buildings would I see men armed with rifles. But even so they do not seem to be military. But with a full time force of 140,000, I am not surprised that soldiers are just so common in Israel. In total numbers though, its army can reach up to around three million, with reserves. This is a huge number in proportion to population as stated earlier.

But some aspects of the military are rather unique to Israel. Take its air force. Seen as one of the best in the world, it is trained to fight all sorts of enemies. It is normal to expect a jet fighter to fight other jets, or watch out for anti aircraft fire. But not birds. Since Israel is not only small but within the the crossroads of Africa, Asia and Europe, birds get funneled into this narrow corridor. It has lost more aircraft to birds than all the wars it fought combined. But even so they find ways to avoid bird concentrations and minimize damages (each jets costs millions of dollars).

It is also unique in that it is under constant scrutiny and criticism from the world. Every raid, every patrol, every mission, every operation is seen negatively in the international media. Whether or not they commit actual atrocities is irrelevant. To the best of the IDF's efforts, civilian casualties are minimized, and collateral damage to be low. But modern warfare, let alone urban warfare, makes this very hard. When it comes to destroying bunkers or weapons caches, how is an army meant to get rid of it without destruction? Can a tunnel just be simply filled up? No you blow it up and that's it.

Overall, the sources I used I feel are reliable. The main source was the Rosenthal book, and I trust her views and information. It is a well thought out and written book, and does not seem to contradict what I know about the Israeli military or its actions. The CIA World Factbook on the other hand is all about numbers, and if the Cold War and the War on Terror has taught us anything, it's that they know their stuff on a global scale. Not everything, but most of it.