What a Canadian soldier reminded me about the IDF

“Someone once said that a real soldier doesn’t fight because of his hatred of what’s in front of him, but because he wants to protect what’s behind him.”

It was in that instant, that I finally understood something that had baffled me for a while. Jewish Canadian friends of mine had children who, after high-school or university, would go to Israel to serve in the Israeli Defence Forces. One friend’s son had served in the famed Nahal brigade, whose graduation ritual consists of a 400 km march. Another had spent an extra year in the IDF after becoming an officer.

It was only then that I understood what motivated these young people, what motivates anyone who signs up in an all-volunteer military such as the CAF. The Canadian soldier and his colleagues at the exhibition were serving out of love, dedication, and a desire to protect that which they loved. In the Syrian army, the best postings were ones where an officer could make money out of smuggling.

A military consisting of service men and women motivated by love of their people will always be a more effective and moral fighting force than one motivated by conquest and loot.

And by any objective measure, the IDF is one of, if not the, most moral army in the world.

While the Syrian army was blasting Syrian cities, the IDF provided medical aid to over 12,000 Syrians in need. Millions of dollars were spent by the Israeli government and private citizens to help outfit makeshift hospitals inside Syria itself.

It was to Israel that Canadian foreign minister Chrystia Freeland appealed for help to extract members of the White Helmets, the Syrian Civil Defence group who, if caught by the Assad regime’s army advancing on the areas near the Golan, would face certain death.

Facts matter. And the undeniable fact is that, if the Syrian army had been half as moral as the IDF, not a single Syrian would have become a refugee.

Ever since that day at the exhibition, I have taken an interest in the history of the Canadian army. On my bookshelf are Pierre Berton’s Vimy, Terry Copp’s Cinderella Army, and Ellin Bessner’s Double Threat, a history of the 17,000 Jewish-Canadians who served in World War II. Canada and Israel both have proud military histories and reputations as moral armies.

If only the same could have been said of Syria…