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Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-809227
Muslim Bedouin IDF Commander Recalls Oct. 7
(Jerusalem Post) Amir Bohbot - Lt.-Col. Nader Eyadat, 39, a member of the Bedouin community from Beit Zarzir, enlisted in the IDF in 2005 and joined the Desert Reconnaissance Battalion, which operates around Gaza. He was at home on Oct. 7 when reports of rocket launches against Gaza border communities began - and immediately drove south. "We organized very quickly as an initial force," he said. "We had the mission to retake control of part of Route 232 and clear it of terrorists....My fighters and I know the sector like the back of our hands, we trained on infiltration scenarios [of] one, two, three terrorists. Who would have thought that thousands of terrorists would infiltrate?" Since Oct. 7, members of the reconnaissance battalion have participated in a large number of additional operations. On June 6, three terrorists who were trying to infiltrate into Israel under cover of fog were killed by battalion fighters. Eyadat said, "We have been shoulder to shoulder in the IDF since 1948. We have 30 fallen soldiers in the unit who were not killed in vain. Then everyone saw what happened here on Oct. 7. Hamas did not differentiate between anyone: It killed Bedouins and Jews all the same. This is a terrorist organization that wants the destruction of the country. The veteran fighters of the reconnaissance battalion came here without anyone asking them and rushed here from anywhere in the country without questions. They told me that it is impossible to sit at home when such events take place." Eyadat added, "There is a video where you see a Bedouin father begging for his life and he is holding a small child. They [Hamas] tell him: 'You are a traitor' and killed him in front of his son. This is a very difficult video. You see the hate in the videos. Also of the citizens of Gaza. They hide behind religion and educate to hate. They murdered and kidnapped Bedouins."