BEFORE THE STORM: meeting the female recruits from IDF fighting units

Portraits of the fighter girls in Caracal, a mixed (men and women) combat unit of Tsahal. A documentary film by Edouard Douek “I was in Israel in 2019 and wanted to know more about the young women who enrolled in combat units in Tsahal, choosing to spend three years instead of the two compulsory years for women in military service. With the authorisation of the army we spent a couple of months visiting the military bases in the south of the country along the Egyptian border where the Caracal battalion was operating. Caracal is the name of a desert wild cat and the name of one of the only two mixed combat battalions in Tsahal.. We were staying in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and also could capture glimpses of the Israeli society. We followed both new recruits and more experienced soldiers in their training. We could film the famed “40 km march“ a harrowing test sanctioning the end of the training period for new recruits and “the beret ceremony“ where they are given new berets and become officially combatants. After the October 7 events, I decided to release the edited footage as it could shed an interesting light on the lives, ambitions, and fears of these young women Their apparent fragility was refuted by the maturity and courage they showed in the battle. They were the first to jump in during the October 7 massacre, rushing from their base 50 kilometres away. This film is about human beings and does not purport giving a global assessment of the situation in the Middle East. If you wish to have the wider picture, you are encouraged to visit Wikipedia “Israel“ (or “Palestine“).“