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EXCLAIMED SENIOR IDF OFFICIAL ON TOUR OF RUSSIA, THE FIRST FOR THE NATIONAL DEFENSE ACADEMY (NDA) FOR IDF TOP BRASS OFFICIALS AND MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS 'TRAINEES,' WHO WERE VERY IMPRESSED WITH THE WORK OF THE JEWISH AGENCY
For the first time, the IDF National Defense Academy (NDA) which provides his students with a Masters degree, included in its curriculum a unit on Jewish communities in the Diaspora and Israel-Diaspora relations. In the framework of this course, a delegation of "trainees" from the college-career soldiers in various branches of the IDF ranking from Colonel to Brigadier General and senior Foreign Ministry officials-toured Moscow and other Russian cities for four days. The "trainees" met with local community leaders, rabbis, potential olim and parents of young people who have already immigrated to Israel through various programs. In addition to these encounters, the delegation visited Russia's military academy and held a series of discussions with representatives of the Russian military and political establishment. The trip was organized with the cooperation of the Jewish Agency. Prior to departure, the delegation received a number of lectures. Chairman of the Jewish Agency, Sallai Meridor lectured on the Jewish people component in Israel's National Strength, Director of the Toronto Jewish Federation, Dr. Alan Reitzes; Director of the Jewish Agency's Zionist Education Department, Allan Hoffman; and Director of the Jewish Agency's FSU Department, Amos Lahat, who also accompanied the delegation on their tour of Russia. Representatives of the Prime Minister's office, the Foreign Ministry and the IDF Spokesperson's Unit also briefed the group. The delegation was led by the NDA's Commanding Officer, Ya'akov Ami Dror and Chief Academic Advisor, Ruth Yaron. Head of the Jewish Agency's delegation to Russia, Carroll Unger, outlined the Jewish Agency's activities in the area. He reported that the group met with parents of immigrants now on active duty in the IDF and bereaved parents who's sons were killed while serving in the IDF, as well as with parents whose children immigrated through one of the Jewish Agency's programs. In addition, Unger reported that the delegation visited a summer camp operated by the Jewish Agency and met with the local Jewish community leaders. Amos Lahat said that this was a historic mission, both from the political and the Jewish perspective. "From my intimate knowledge of the IDF, and as a graduate of institutions similar to the NDA, I came away from the visit very encouraged," said Lahat. "I saw how the members of the delegation, some of them senior officers responsible for matters of life and death, were moved to tears by what they saw. I heard their voices tremble when they spoke to the parents and those planning to make aliyah. Until now I was certain that what we are doing here is right; but when a group like this expresses praise, admiration and support for the work- both from the organizational and the personal standpoint-that is something really special." "One of the members of the delegation, a Druze officer who will be appointed as Commanding Officer of the Givati Brigade within the next two weeks, asked me to teach him to say a sentence in Russian: 'All for one and one for all.'" He wanted to use it at a review ceremony of a Givati unit made up of 50% immigrants from the FSU," Lahat said. "Another officer, a commander of an armored brigade who was active previously in the field of education, told us that in all his years in education, he had never seen such excellent Zionist education programming." This week, at the closing celebration of their course at the NDC, the "trainees" sang the words of a famous Russian marching song that they learned from the Jewish Agency emissaries during their trip in Russia-a symbol of their identification with the mass immigration from the FSU.
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