Elle Shmuel spoke to members of the Perth community of her experiences in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead.
Yuval and Michal Shmuel, Tal Shmuel, Elle Shmuel and Rabbi Shalom White Photo Eli Rabinowitz/J-Wire
The 21-yr-old who was born in Melbourne but moved with her family to Perth at the ages of six was educated at Western Australia’s only Jewish day school Carmel School.
Shmuel spoke to a packed house at the Chabad WA Synagogue telling them she made aliyah when she finished year 12 and was conscripted to the IDF.
She said that there were only a handful of women among the thousands of soldiers that had entered Gaza.
Elle was a paramedic attaining the rank of Staff Sergeant and became a member of the first combat engineering battalion to be called to the South of Israel. Staff Sergeant Elle knew that she could not stay behind while her soldiers went to battle, and volunteered to join the entering company. Her bravery and commitment have been reported as being exemplary.
She spoke of her experiences both from the perspective of a soldier and as a young woman. Eli Rabinowitz told J-Wire: “Elle addressed the large crowd with confidence and maturity beyond her years and answered questions from the floor after her talk. Elle told us about life in the IDF and Operation Protective Edge in Gaza:
How she coped being far away from her parents here in Australia and what she could or could not tell them;
Her feelings about knowing that she had entered Gaza;
Life inside the Puma armoured vehicles the members of the Engineering Corp “lived in”;
Transporting explosives, describing the tunnels and blowing the tunnels up;
The sound and affects of shells exploding around them
How she treated the injured and coped with the death of fellow soldiers in their brigade.
Elle did tell as that there were strict rules imposed on what she was allowed to say.”
Yes. And?
good point – we are waiting answers
So what was her experience ?