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Hundreds of new immigrants are serving in combat units even though they don't know enough Hebrew, commanders and officers in the Israel Defense Forces Education Corps say.
Every year, the IDF inducts thousands of new immigrants who have been in Israel for only a few months. The army conducts two types of courses for immigrants who have been inducted for the full three years: Soldiers with a reasonable knowledge of Hebrew take a three-week course, which includes lessons about the army, Zionism, Jewish and Israeli history and Hebrew. Soldiers who know less Hebrew take a three-month course that also includes language studies.
At the end of the course, the recruits take a test, but failing doesn't keep them out of combat units.
An Education Corps officer said that while the course was a good one, "due to the need to deal simultaneously with getting drafted, an unfamiliar place, being without family and having problems at home, and in addition, learning a new language, many people finish the course with a low level of Hebrew."
Nefesh B'Nefesh, which helps bring thousands of new immigrants from Britain and North America every year, including hundreds of soldiers, advises newcomers to learn Hebrew before they join the army.
"These are very motivated soldiers," an infantry brigade commander said. "But we've had quite a few cases of safety issues when they did not hear the command to cease fire and had a bullet in the chamber because they thought that was the order."
"We went out on ambush with a soldier who hardly spoke Hebrew," a soldier in a combat unit said. "When we got back, we discovered he had been walking behind us with a loaded machine gun. He could have sprayed us at any moment. He simply didn't understand the order," the soldier said.
In at least one case, an infantry brigade decided to return new immigrant soldiers to the Education Corps to improve their Hebrew.
New immigrants between the ages of 21 and 25, who serve in the army for six months, receive two months of basic training, which also includes language studies. One commander said his unit received several of these soldiers to serve as drivers. "I didn't let them serve in the territories because they didn't know the language well enough to read maps or signs, and might mistakenly enter a Palestinian area," he said.
In response, the IDF said, "The task of absorbing new immigrants and teaching them Hebrew is of national importance, and the IDF has taken upon itself to play a role. The Education and Youth Corps invests much energy in this area." |
