Posted on 03/24/2024 5:33:35 PM PDT by Twotone
Religious women living on the frontlines in Judea and Samaria are taking up arms to defend their homes, particularly after the Oct. 7 massacre.
Srugim, a news site catering to the religious Zionist community, reported on Sunday that women from the disputed territories have drawn conclusions from Hamas’s mass slaughter in the northwestern Negev.
“I felt that you couldn’t rely on the army—no one, in fact. My husband was conscripted, and I needed a tool to save my children,” Esther Sultan, who lives in Beit El, a Jewish town north of Ramallah, told the news site.
“It’s only a matter of time before they come, and it won’t surprise me. I’ll do everything not to be slaughtered in bed,” she said.
Eleanor Rahamim, from Tekoa, a Jewish community southeast of Bethlehem, said, “After Oct. 7, I had panic attacks. My husband, a security guard, went to work, and I found myself on the frontline. I closed the blinds and thought how do I protect my house?
“After a few days of anxiety, I realized that there was no place to crawl into. And from a place of playing the victim, I decided to become a fighter, like women from our history.”
Rahamim had to first overcome her discomfort with firearms.
“At the range, I was really shaking, I couldn’t control the shooting. It was really difficult. … The experience of shooting is scary at first, but I told myself to imagine the terrorist who killed my cousin in front of me and shooting. It took me a while to calm down from the tremors but today I have a different feeling. I know what to do. I’m not fragile. I protect the people of Israel.” Women practice firing weapons at the Jewish community of Pnei Kedem, south of Bethlehem, on Sept. 21, 2011. Photo by Nati Shohat/Flash90.
‘It’s a mental relief that we have a tool’
Oshrat Gispan, who is also from Tekoa, took up a firearm 10 years ago. She helps out the new shooters, some of whom have a hard time.
“They are young, on the verge of crying. It’s really not easy but as soon as there is support and reinforcement they get used to it. They control the tool, and it doesn’t control them.”
She’s part of a group of women that conducts advanced training. “We train to draw quickly, disassemble the weapon, shoot from inside a house, from a moving vehicle, from a window, driving in slalom, bypassing large stones, all so I won’t be responding to an incident for the first time.
“I enjoy the ranges. It works my nerves out. It’s a mental relief that we have a tool. I’m usually the only woman at the range, and the treatment is respectful,” Gispan said.
She stressed that a gun “is a life-saving tool. Every time you come to shoot, say [to yourself], ‘It is in the name of God, for my home and family.”
The Oct. 7 massacre has awakened a once indifferent public to the need to take up arms. Demand was such that a Knesset command center was set up to handle the flood of applications.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a national address in October, “We’re encouraging citizens, and helping citizens, to arm themselves with personal weapons for defense.”
On Oct. 16, the Knesset National Security Committee approved regulations expanding the criteria for obtaining a gun license.
Too bad almost all such women are restricted to one semi-auto handgun and a paltry amount of ammo at a time. A number of Israeli casualties on October 7 resulted from running out of ammo because of government restrictions.
Lately, some reservists furloughed from active duty are allowed to carry M16s, M4s, Tavors, and even Negev light machine guns as they travel to and from duty. Doesn’t help womenfolk much except by coincidence.
“The Oct. 7 massacre has awakened a once indifferent public to the need to take up arms.”
Wonder what it would take...if anything...for American JAPs (ie, the Jessica Tarlovs) to awaken?
Firearms are tools? Who knew?
The ancient Greeks sure did. Their word for tool or weapon is the same word.
It’s also the word used by Jeff Cooper to describe those with an irrational fear of firearms, “hoplophobe.”
They sure did- Israel also has a large female fighting divisions in their military branches-
The Lion of Judah Shall Prevail!
.
Thanks for your insight.
Does that mean non-religious women aren’t?
What’s the point of specifying that *religious women* are taking up arms? Are they not supposed to?
In other words, ALL Jews, before the communist "Reform" movement started in the late 1800s.
Religious Jews are disproportionately represented in more rural and vulnerable areas.
Places like Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa have a lot of police and military presence, leading to a false sense of security.
Cheaper growing areas that attract larger religious families like Ariel or Maaleh Adummim must be more self-reliant.
I work with a young Jewish kid who is nice enough but I’ve tried to explain to him that it would be in the best interest of he and his wife if they armed up.
He said “I don’t believe in that’’.
I said “Six million of your European brethren didn’t believe in that either and now they’re ashes’’.
Didn’t seem to impress him.
I understand that. Much like the US no doubt.
The point was that the headline for some reason, saw fit to emphasize that it was *religious* women. Like that makes any difference????
They could just have said *Women in Israeli territories are taking up arms.*
Then there is no reasoning with someone like that.
His fate is on his head then. You tried.
At
https://israelnewstalkradio.com/
there are several people who describe daily life outside of the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem areas.
It’s a really strange one for sure. I often wonder if the reason they don’t have a 2nd amendment equivalent is because of their demographics. Maybe they gamed it out and the 20% arab population would be detrimental in an invasion type scenario. Maybe they can’t just come out and say that because their western allies would have a hard time hearing it. Seems like allowing the general citizenry small arms would be a pretty cheap way to protect themselves, at least on an individual level.
Freegards
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