"There is no problem to take a young guy from a different background and help him to achieve great things. My advice is for anyone who wants to create another haredi combat battalion to come and see how it works with us … It works well," says Kfir Brigade Commander Col. Udi Ben-Moha about the Nahal Haredi battalion in his brigade.
"The Netzah Yehuda Battalion [another name for the Nahal Haredi Battalion], proves itself. The level of combat conditioning among its soldiers is the highest in the Kfir Brigade," added Ben-Moha, who spoke with Israel Hayom to mark the August 2012 enlistment class.
According to Ben-Moha, "The Netzah Yehuda Battalion is an excellent outfit that does everything. It trains, fights, detains suspects, just like any other combat battalion. It is a good example of how haredi enlistment works."
Aside from his ultra-Orthodox troops, Ben-Moha commands six other battalions, which only in recent years have come together to form one brigade. The brigade's journey was initially difficult, but over the past few years it has gradually grown to resemble the Israel Defense Forces' four other veteran infantry brigades, the Paratroopers, Golani, Givati and Nahal.
The IDF is also considering expanding the Kfir Brigade's arena of operations in the future to include the Gaza border region. The brigade is already carrying out operational security duties along the border with Lebanon, and in its next large-scale training exercise, which will take place for the first time on the Golan Heights, the brigade will prepare itself for conventional combat along the northern border.
"We will operate as a brigade during the next conflict," said Ben-Moha. "The brigade has matured, and the decision makers in the IDF know they can trust us. The army lacks [enough] good units today, and for Kfir this is an opportunity."
Despite Ben-Moha's declarations, his brigade still has a glaring weakness compared to the veteran brigades: it doesn't have a reconnaissance battalion.
"There was a plan to create a reconnaissance battalion," Ben-Moha told Israel Hayom, "but question marks currently hang over the IDF's multi-year plans due to budgetary considerations. We very much want a reconnaissance battalion, but no unit has ever won in combat just because of its equipment. The real story is about the people, the quality of the commanders and the soldiers."
The brigade came of age in Judea and Samaria, which is the area with which it is most closely associated. On a number of occasions, the media has reported incidents of abuse and humiliation by Kfir soldiers toward the Palestinian population, but such reports have significantly dropped in recent months.
"There is no doubt that some of these incidents portrayed us in a negative light and created a bad stigma about the Brigade," admitted Ben-Moha, "but the commanders have matured, and we're now very vigilant about this issue. Our people understand this, and the issue of [our] image has become very important. These incidents are happening less and less, and even the smallest case [of abuse] is treated with utmost seriousness and with severe punishment."
This year the Kfir Brigade achieved another first. One of its soldiers, Sgt. Gal Weingarten, was awarded a citation for shooting two terrorists after they attacked and seriously wounded him. Weingarten was taking part in an operation to detain a suspect in the Hebron area, when two terrorists attacked him and managed to slit his throat with a knife. Weingarten still managed to shoot his attackers, wounding one and killing the other.
"We're proud of him," said Ben-Moha. "He's a hero – the result of the good training and atmosphere in the Kfir Brigade."
