"My Dream - To Become An IDF Officer"

    JERUSALEM, ISRAEL, March 30, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Special in Uniform is a ground-breaking initiative of Israel's Lend a Hand to the Special Child Foundation, a grassroots organization established in 2005 by parents of special-needs children that operates in partnership with the Jewish National Fund. Their common goal is to conscript young people with disabilities into the military and help them integrate long-term into society and the workforce. The focus of the program is on ability, not disability, upon utilizing and emphasizing talents and capacities of people with disabilities in order to foster independence and integration into mainstream society despite physical challenges.

Thus far, over 320 young men and women with various disabilities were integrated into the IDF in 21 military bases across Israel, and another 150 new male and female soldiers are slated to join the project during the course of 2017. These young people contribute their part to the nation by filling a variety of positions in the framework of the military.

Throughout their service, the soldiers are supported and mentored by a team of highly-experienced, dedicated professionals. The initiative greatly contributes to the IDF as a whole and each individual soldier individually by fostering acceptance of diversity of people, thus creating a positive impact for a better society.

Project initiator Major Gen. (res.) Gabi Ophir, who attended the ceremony, expressed, "I am thrilled to be here on Ammunition Hill at the first induction ceremony of soldiers with disabilities. We fought here during the Six Day War, and these soldiers fight every day again and again, and they're victorious!

"We've incorporated 320 special kids like them into the program, and I hope that this project will become a national success, granting equal opportunities to people from all walks of life. No kid should have to ask, 'Why are others in uniform, and I'm not?'"

Yehudah Yislach of Rechasim, one of the 11 soldiers who participated in today's induction ceremony shares: "I had a dream to be inducted into the army, and today my dream is to become an IDF officer. I am very excited to be here today, to be of value like everybody else, to contribute to the country and to the army. I intend to devote myself fully to the military. I thank all the wonderful people around the world who support us as well as my commanding officer at Home-Front Command who trusts me and my friends in the army."

http://special.org.il/en/about/

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