A 19-year-old Argentine in Israel tells how they prepare him for war: “From playing in Atlanta to the army”

Emigrating to another country is never easy, much less if war awaits us on the other side. However, Tomás Steizel, a 19-year-old Argentineseems to have a clear objective in Israel. “I always wanted to join the army and defend my country,” he says in the midst of the war in the Gaza Strip.

Israel and Palestine have disputed territory since the last century. On October 7, 2023, the Hamas paramilitary group crossed the Gaza Strip and carried out a unparalleled terrorist attack that unleashed the war in the zone.

But it was not the only conflict that the Jewish state faces: the last April 13 Iran attacked Israel for the first time in its history and the problems in the region rose to unexpected levels.

In the midst of this dramatic context, Thomas decided to move continents. On January 24, 2023 he left the City of Buenos Aires and today he is quite a soldier Israeli doing military service -mandatory for all residents between 18 and 21 years old-. With the war at its worst, most present and intimidating. “I never imagined I would be prepared for a situation like this,” she analyzes from a distance.

According to Steizel, the army’s top commanders are very strict when it comes to new recruits and not only value the soldier’s aggressiveness but also the camaraderie and conviction to fight for the country. “I knew they threw out not smiling enough. “They want you to be proud to be a part,” he says.

“They are not interested in you being the first to finish the tests. What they want is for the first to be last and the last to be first. If we don’t all arrive together, we are not a good team.. In a test in the desert, they had us brake on the floor and look back at how far we were from the rest. If you’re not ready to be part, they tell you and you go home,” she adds forcefully.

Tomás lived his entire life in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Flores and studied at Vélez Sarsfield High School. “I went from being a player for the Atlanta club to being in the army and handling specialized weapons on the other side of the planet. I always wanted to be a fighter,” he admits.

His father Ariel Steizel (58) He is an engineer and his mother Gabriela Kwasniewski (57) is a psychologist. Both were the first to support the decision to emigrate and decided to accompany him. He also had a lot to do with the influence of his older brother Alan (27), who had left Argentina in 1989 and joined the Israeli army. Plus there is Nicole (24).

Today they are all distributed in the same region of Israel: their parents live in Rishon LeZion, south of Tel Aviv; his brother and sister in Ramat Gan; and the 19 year old stays in the Har Qeren barracks, a mountain of the same name. .

What it is like to live in Israel during the war

Israel is a country where everything is prepared for war. Every block there is a bunker and anti-aircraft alarms appear very frequently.

“In the part where I live, when the siren sounds you have 15 seconds to a minute and a half to get to the shelter,” he mentions. And he describes: “The bunkers even have refrigerators and even pool and ping pong and pool tables.”

There are thousands of Argentines who decide to emigrate, which is why Tomás confesses to feeling content. The State gives a hand so that they can adapt and even receive financial aid for six months to study the language and get a job. “I was able to learn quickly because I have ease and I’m brave,” she says.

The local inhabitants They value the effort of foreigners to go there and join the army. Young people like Steizel, who are accompanied by his family, are called Olim Hadashim (new immigrants) and those who go alone, Haialim Bodedim (lone soldiers).

“The Jewish people love us and help us in everything. They gave us refrigerators, armchairs, beds. Everything since we arrived,” Tomás recalls, stating that part of his decision to move to Israel was to go to a country where he could study, work and be himself.

According to the young man, one of the things he enjoys most about living in Israel is being able practice your religion without problems compared to the place where he was born.

“In Argentina they don’t help you to be Jewish. On holidays, getting special foods is too expensive and here they almost give it to you for free,” she compares.

In any case, he recognizes that he will meet his friends again. “I miss my city a lot, but it is really very difficult to live there because of the economic situation. “I wasn’t going to be able to progress,” she says, like so many other young people.

How an Argentine prepares to be an Israeli soldier near Gaza

When the conflict broke out in the Gaza Strip, he says the people of Israel “were very afraid.” However, currently the situation appears to be normalized and a “patriotic feeling and optimism for winning the war.”

At that first moment, Tomás had not yet entered military service and he felt angry because he could not do anything about it.

Steizel says that the first time he heard the anti-aircraft alarm was with the incidents of October 7. Since then, he hasn’t stopped listening to her.

“Although everything is calmer than at the beginningthe relatives of the kidnapped continue to complain. “I know people who died in the attack and there are several Argentines who have not yet been released,” he points out.

Since the terrorist attack, thousands of people have decided to join the army and be prepared for the war situation. To enter, Tomás had to do “a very tough test” call Gibush Yom Sayarot. Then they divide them into two: Gibush Shayelet and Gibush Matkal.

Tomás had to take a super demanding test along with 500 other applicants: build a car in the desert in just 10 minutesclimbing 75-degree sand mountains and running three kilometers in 12 minutes.

“They were five terrible days where you constantly demanded your body to the maximum. You don’t have a cell phone or contact with anyone.“says the young man who plans to stay in the army after completing his mandatory military service, but not before taking a vacation.

And remember an anecdote as an example: “One night, They woke us up at three in the morning and told us to run several hours without drinking a drop of water.

The young man reveals that in the Israeli army they do not allow soldiers to shave their beards to zero, and they make sure they keep it neat. “They demand that we be clean and neat. That we be pretty,” he confides between laughs.

It also counts as a colorful fact – or not so much – that the higher-ups “pay attention to who gets the best Milanese” because “a good soldier is a good person.”

Since joining the Armed Forces, Steizel has done things he never imagined. “In different operations I had to raiding houses without knowing what I was going to find. The commanders are clear and know how to distribute each person’s tasks,” she says.

One of the first lessons he learned was how to handle a gun. Now to go on any operation, he does so accompanied by a sniper and companions loaded with grenade launcher and explosives. “Everything you do here leaves a mark on you,” she deepens.

Tomás left his life in Buenos Aires to face the extreme tension that exists in the Middle East. Because of his convictions, his religion and his strength, he claims to be ready for anything. “Now more than ever you have to be calm. You can’t allow yourself to be nervous because otherwise you’re a dead man,” he concludes.

*With the collaboration of Dante Halpern

DP