Beneath the Helmet: From High School to the Home Front is a coming of age story that highlights five young Israeli high school graduates, who are drafted into the army to defend their country. At the age of 18, away from their houses, family, and friends these young individuals undergo a demanding journey, revealing the core of who they are and who they want to be. From the creators of the PBS-featured documentary film Israel Inside: How a Small Nation Makes a Big Difference, the film Beneath the Helmet illustrates how these young men and women are protecting not only their homes, but the shared values of peace, equality, opportunity, democracy, religious tolerance and women's rights. The lessons they learn along the way, are lessons that can be adapted, understood and appreciated by everyone.
This is disgusting promotion of militarism, which would be bad enough if it was for the U.S. military, but it's much worse for a foreign military which actively recruits what are essentially mercenaries from all over the world, including, of course, so-called "dual citizens" (another disgusting concept because it's an obvious oxymoron).
In recent years, has the IDF been used for ANYTHING besides the occupation and oppression of the Palestinians? Sure, every once in a while, they'll lob some fire into Syria or Lebanon, but I'm guessing that at least 95% of all IDF activities are concentrated directly on the Palestinians. And that, my friends, speaks entire volumes about the nature of the occupation and the essential nature of the Zionist state called Israel.
This film shows precious little about IDF occupation activities, despite the fact that manning checkpoints, patrolling, tear-gassing demonstrators, protecting illegal settlements, etc. is really their primary purpose. Indeed, the ranks of Breaking the Silence are filled with ex-IDF who find it difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile their service with their morals and conscience.