Israeli soldier shares horrors from the front

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier Sergeant Benjamin Anthony believes war with Iran is certain.
“I firmly believe that the time will probably come when Israel launches a strike on Iran,” said the heavy machine gunner, explaining Israelis are not willing to see Iran become a nuclear power.
“Our actions and deeds have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with politics, they’re merely the consequence of the universal desire to survive.”
Anthony came to York Jan. 24 as a part of his North American campus tour in support of his pro-Israeli advocacy organization, Our Soldiers Speak. He offered the audience his insights into current Middle-Eastern conflicts.
Personal security escorted Anthony to York’s Stedman Lecture Hall and refused to allow anyone to take his photo.
“I was told specifically to watch out for what would happen at York University,” he said; however, no protesters were in sight during Anthony’s speech on the Keele campus.
He said the goal of his speeches were to share the experiences of an Israeli soldier and proudly share his perspective on the Middle-Eastern conflicts with the rest of North America.
“I know precisely what transpires at the front lines of the battlefield,” he said.
“What I do aim to do, with your permission, is to transport you to the human side of warfare and to describe to you what actually transpires there, away from the gaze of the media. For, of course, the media does not live within the situations I aim to describe,” Anthony added.
He described the terror of warfare to students and the horrific wounds he and fellow soldiers endured during engagements like the 2006 Hezbollah rocket attacks in northern Israel.
He believes being an Israeli soldier is not a choice, but a duty.
“Can anybody believe – really believe – that this is a lifestyle we elect?” he said. “There is no glory to be found, and nobody should believe that there is.”

Compiled by News Department With files from Oxana Tsirelman and the National Post