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Posted on Jul 25, 2014

What Israeli Soldiers Would Rather Be Doing With Their Summer

I would like to ask all supporters of Hamas to stop reading now. Nothing I write will influence you, so just save yourself the time. Haters gonna hate.

by justanotherschneider

Community Contributor

Full disclosure: I'm a twenty-something expat who moved to Israel after high school. I'm what you would call a Zionist, and as long as the word isn't followed by "murderer" or "pig" I'll take that as a compliment. As of now there have been thousands of unsuccessful attempts on my life. Missiles are being shot at me and weapons are being stockpiled in order to massacre my friends and family. What have I done to deserve this? I've been binge-watching the X-Files, working at a summer camp, and living as an Israeli Jew. My country has a right to defend me. My country has a right to stop terrorist attacks.

Just to set the record straight, Israel is capable of obliterating Gaza without any Israeli casualties. We could easily destroy the entire strip. But Israel doesn't do that because it's an INHUMANE WAR CRIME. We are not murderers and don't advocate the deaths of innocent Gazan civilians. The Israeli Defense Forces exists in order to defend. Not only are our soldiers protecting the State of Israel, they are doing all that is in their power to avoid harming Gazan civilians. The people who are anti-Israel will say, "They aren't being careful enough, hundreds of children are still dead due to Israel's attacks." To which Israelis reply, "We are sacrificing our brothers, boyfriends, husbands, fathers, and sons so that the children of Gaza will live." It is a known fact that Hamas uses the citizens of Gaza as human shields, so please don't debate me on this one. Whose fault is it when innocent civilians are killed? The Israeli soldiers who by risking their lives have made every attempt to save the lives of innocents, but can't always succeed? Or the corrupt Hamas regime purposefully putting innocents in harm's way in order to save their sorry asses?

Please don't compare the death tolls of each side. If Hamas cared about their kids they wouldn't be planting them above missile launchers. I guess if Israel wanted to fight numbers with numbers I could move my young campers to the Gaza border. But I prefer to save and celebrate life. Summer camp is more fun when you learn how to tie-dye, not when you learn about the importance and honor of death.

Israeli soldiers are not bloodthirsty. But they are proud to serve their country and protect their families if need be. This is not how they want to be spending their summer. I personally have been worried sick about the soldiers as I hear about the hell they are experiencing. Israel is very small, and there are around two degrees of separation between everyone, which means that every loss of a soldier is a knife to the heart.

Israelis are just like you, Buzzfeed readers. Israeli soldiers are the same age as American college students. Do you know any college sophomores who would rather be entering a war zone than be entering a party? I hope not. Here are some things that Israeli soldiers and reservists would prefer to be doing this summer: