'The real heroes are the moms or dads at home' says IDF reservist Yair Jab

Christian journalist Paul Calvert of "Bethlehem Voice" visited an Israeli army base, where he met IDF reservist Yair Jab and discussed some of the key questions surrounding the Israel-Hamas war.

In Israel, military service is mandatory for men aged 18-21 and women aged 18-20. Reservists are those who have completed their regular service but continue to serve periodically, usually until the age of 40. Many reservists have been called up extensively over the past 14 months, following the start of the ongoing conflict with Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

“What’s interesting is that here, as you can see, we have people from all ages, all backgrounds, ethnicities,” Jab said, as he described life on the base. “I mean, we have Jewish. We have Israeli Muslims, Israeli Christians that serve with us, Israeli Druze from different backgrounds, different areas geographically, and also different backgrounds in terms of their status in life…”

“Some just got out and they are 22 years old, starting college. Some are already 35 with four children and some are working in high tech. Some are managers of big companies. We always say that Israel is a melting pot, but in the reserves, you really feel that melting pot of people coming from all backgrounds for one goal… When we’re here on the base, we’re all the same.”

Prior to October 7, 2023, Jab explained that reservists would be called up once every two years for a 30-day period of service, then another two or three days for training, but the present ‘war status’ is very different and reservists can be called at any point in time.

For the usual scenario, he said, “It was usually pretty friendly and fun. You do barbecues, you get to meet your friends you haven’t seen for a year or whatever.

“And after October 7, obviously everything changed. Right now, we’ve been serving here for over 220 days, and the new law that came through is that reservists will be serving around 60 days a year.”

Married with children, Jab said that “the real heroes are the moms or dads at home that are taking care of the kids while we’re gone.”

“For us, it’s very difficult physically, obviously,” he continued. “I mean, sleepless nights, running, walking, doing dangerous missions and activities. So there’s obviously challenges there, to say the least. But at least we have each other.”

“A lot of times, those that are staying home with the children, they’re dealing with all this alone and they don’t have that support. And they’re also constantly worried, ‘What’s going on with my husband and what’s going on with my wife, what's going on…?’”

Jab addressed the important questions of the amount of support within the Palestinian areas for Hamas including the propaganda war surrounding the number of people killed in Gaza; the charges against Israel that it is committing ‘genocide’ in Gaza, brought by South Africa to the International Court of Justice; and the ethos of the Israel Defense Forces.

The base in question serves to protect civilians in the biblical heartland of Israel, Judea and Samaria, aka the West Bank. Jab explained that people do not understand the threat in this area, equating Hamas forces with Gaza only.

“Hamas is very, very dominant in many of the towns,” he said. “If you’re looking at northern Samaria, you have, I would say, at least 6 or 7 Palestinian towns that are 90 to 99% Hamas in these towns. So I would say there is higher support [than in Gaza].”

Jab added that it is not even his own opinion, but that an internal Arab survey was conducted in November 2023, showing higher support for Hamas in the West Bank than in Gaza.

“So when people say ‘Hamas,’ they should know that Hamas is dominant within all the Palestinian population, unfortunately. And if there would be elections again, they would probably win,” he added.

Calvert asked if the reports of women and children being killed and the high death tolls in Gaza were correct.

“Absolutely not,” Jab replied. “I mean, even if you were to take their figures…we’re still looking at a ratio of something around 1 to 1.15 combatant versus civilian in urban warfare such as this, which is probably the lowest in any type of urban warfare…”

“If you look at the American Iraq war, we’re looking at 1 to 9. That means nine civilians were killed for every terrorist or combatant. So on any level, any metric, the IDF is doing a surgical job. And this is taking the Hamas numbers, which are obviously unreliable. Why are they unreliable? Because they’re putting in their numbers combatants,” he told Calvert.

From firsthand experience, Jab said that when the media reports the deaths of children, there is no provision of the wider context, or that they are simply young terrorists.

“I’ve seen 15-year-olds (that are considered children) shooting at innocent Israeli citizens, civilians, IDF soldiers. I’ve seen 16-year-olds. I’ve seen women stabbing soldiers at different venues and junctions.”

“So when you hear women and children, it’s in order to manipulate people to think a certain thing and to make them think that the IDF is some evil army. Although we are, and we know this internally, we’re one of the most, if not the most moral army in the world. And this is just a way to delegitimize us.”

“As someone who’s a reservist, how do you feel when you hear all the time ‘genocide, genocide, genocide’?” Calvert asked.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” Jab responded. “Even if you lie a million times, it stays a lie… There’s nothing that could be further from the truth. We know there was just a study that came out that the Palestinian population in Gaza just grew by 2% or something like that [almost 3%]. I mean, if there is a genocide, we must be the worst genociders in the world. I mean, it just doesn’t make sense. We all know that this is only a way to delegitimize us,” he said.

“And what’s ironic is that the Palestinian leadership in Gaza, which is Hamas, actually wants to commit a genocide. And they’re not, by the way, shy of that ambition. They tried to on October 7. They were killing, slaughtering any child, baby, woman, men, anyone who came in their way. And this is what they declare every day. This is what they declare in their prayers in the mosques. It’s in their charter.”

Jab issued a challenge to those who hear certain statements from the media and make some assumptions, or perhaps are ignorant of the true situation.

“They should all come to Israel because if they see it with their own eyes, they will see the truth. In anything that I do in life, I always want to know what the truth is. And I think that if they want to know, really deep down, they want to know what the truth is. They should come here to Israel.”

Calvert asked Jab what he prays for and the reservist spoke about the essential need for unity.”

“I pray for the IDF that we should continue to be united because I know usually when people think of the IDF, they think of soldiers. But when I think of the IDF, I actually think of the most incredible thing.”

“This is the only place where you have everyone from different backgrounds of Israel coming together for the same purpose: Jews, non-Jews, right, left, religious, not religious. Every Israeli comes and serves together and is willing to sacrifice their lives for their other soldiers.”

And with the death toll of young Israeli soldiers, and also reservists of all ages, rising by the day, Jab said the fact that the world criticizes Israel so much is very upsetting.

“When we came here to this base, we switched [with] a unit that went down to Gaza,” he explained. “And then two weeks later, four of their soldiers fell in Gaza. So we literally were in their rooms. We were in their halls; we are stepping now where they stepped. So this is real…”

“And that's why it upsets me so much when we hear these ‘keyboard warriors,’ I call them, that have no idea what’s happening here, have never been here, claiming all kinds of false claims against the State of Israel, against the Jewish people.”

“It upsets me so much because in reality, we are actually going through this war, through this mess that we didn’t start, we didn’t want. So how dare they, you know, blame us for it?”

Click below to listen to the full interview, including the type of training on the base and the way the military has changed over the years.