As part of observing Israel’s Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers, I went to an open house this afternoon hosted by Chaya Skoury to honor the memory of her son Amir. After twelve years serving in the IDF, culminating in a position as a commander in the elite General Staff Reconnaissance Unit (Sayeret Matkal), Amir enrolled at age 30 at Shalem College, the liberal arts institution in Jerusalem where I teach and am part of the leadership team. On October 7, 2023, a few days before he was due to begin his sophomore year, he raced to the Gaza envelope upon hearing of the Hamas attacks, took command of a team of soldiers defending one of the Jewish communities, and was killed in a firefight with terrorists.

The Skourys’ home was filled with family and friends, including several who had served with Amir and been with him on October 7th. Despite our efforts to focus on Amir’s extraordinary accomplishments and stellar character, this modest apartment in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Hasharon was filled with profound sadness for a life tragically cut short, a young woman widowed, and two little girls growing up without the father who adored them. While I was paying my respects to Amir’s family, my youngest son David was in the city of Modi’in at the home of his comrade on a combat medic team, Shlomo Gurtovnik, who was killed in Gaza at age 21—before even having the chance to start his own family. There too the visitors sought to celebrate the life of a quiet, committed, and eternally cheerful young man while simultaneously mourning his death. Similar scenes were taking place in homes across Israel among the thousand or so families who, during the last two and a half years, lost a loved one who served in the security forces. (And they were joining tens of thousands of families mourning relatives killed in previous wars Israel fought during the 78 years since its founding).

While driving home to Jerusalem, filled with sorrow over the thousand families grappling with the unspeakable pain caused by the recent loss of their loved ones, I unexpectedly found myself entertaining a much happier thought. I considered the even larger number of IDF soldiers who could easily have joined the ranks of the fallen, but were saved because of the extraordinary lengths to which the IDF, supplemented by civilian groups, went to prevent casualties in its ranks. In many cases, we will never know who these soldiers are—indeed, they themselves often don’t know how close they came to meeting the Angel of Death—but as Memorial Day’s sadness is replaced by the joy of Israel Independence Day, it is worth celebrating the army of a country whose people love life so much that they will go to extraordinary lengths to preserve it.

How is it that despite widespread predictions that thousands of Israeli soldiers would be killed in urban warfare in a Gaza filled with booby traps and crisscrossed by tunnels, and thousands more in the fighting against entrenched Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, the actual death toll was so much lower? Many factors were at work, of which I’ll relate here to three.

First, the IDF leadership conducted the war in Gaza, and later in Lebanon, with a strong bias towards preserving the lives of its soldiers. Despite criticism that it should proceed more rapidly in order to defeat Hamas before the patience of our American ally wore out, the Israeli army advanced slowly and methodically, using the air force and artillery to eliminate threats so as not to endanger the lives of infantry and armored troops unnecessarily. Israel paid a price diplomatically for drawing out the war and the IDF leadership was accused by critics at home of lacking the decisiveness to secure victory quickly, but the result is that far fewer families are mourning today than would otherwise have been the case.

Moreover, the IDF and its backers provided front-line units with state-of-the-art technology that enabled them to identify threats in time to avoid or neutralize them. Particularly significant were reconnaissance drones, introduced in the war’s early stages largely at the initiative of reservists with high-tech backgrounds who sought a better way to protect themselves and their comrades. Medium-sized drones were deployed outdoors to scout out the areas where troops were operating, while smaller ones were used to search buildings and tunnels in which Hamas gunmen or bombs might be waiting. Once this concept proved successful, the IDF quickly began purchasing and distributing drones in substantial numbers and training soldiers throughout the army to use them effectively.

Given the magnitude of the challenge, exacerbated by the fact that drones in war zones have a short life expectancy and must be replaced constantly, a host of civilian groups,  working closely with IDF combat officers, took it upon themselves to provide drones wherever there were shortages. In doing so, they resisted the arguments of well-meaning individuals who asserted that since the IDF is responsible for providing equipment, civilians should not get involved; or that the army of the Startup Nation must surely be providing everything the troops require and that requests for assistance from front-line officers don’t reflect a genuine need. We will never know how many soldiers are alive and well today, celebrating Independence Day with their families, because of the timely, priceless information provided by a drone.

Finally, the medical teams that are an integral part of every IDF combat force, buttressed by specialized evacuation units, demonstrated great professionalism along with an inspirational willingness to risk their own lives to save their wounded comrades. Aided by state-of-the-art technology, they provided lifesaving treatment within minutes of a soldier being wounded and continued to do so throughout the course of the evacuation, until the fighter reached an Israeli hospital experienced in dealing with battlefront injuries. The evacuations themselves took place at extraordinary speed, and it was typical for an injured soldier to make it from Gaza into the operating room within 45 minutes of being wounded.

Hundreds of lives have been saved as a result of this lightning-fast medical treatment, and injuries that in a different army or an earlier period would have resulted in the loss of limbs or other life-altering injuries are often followed by full recovery. It is with good reason that armies around the world have been sending teams to study the IDF’s methods. What will be harder for them to communicate to their colleagues back home is the powerful love of life and the spirit of brotherhood that, alongside the training and equipment, are the keys to Israel’s success.

Every young life cut short in battle is a tragedy and on Memorial Day we Israelis have been mourning each and every soldier killed defending our country. But every life that could have been lost and was saved—due to prudent strategy, vital technological equipment, superb medical care, and other vital factors—is a cause for celebration.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)