6 | FEBRUARY 10 • 2022 

1942 - 2022

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column
Defense and Cyber in Israel
M

ilitary service has 
been mandatory for 
men and women 
in Israel since the establish-
ment of the state in 1948. 
Generations 
of Israelis have 
been raised on 
the ethos of ser-
vice to the coun-
try, ideally in an 
elite or combat 
unit. Already 
in high school, 
Israeli teens undergo rigorous 
testing to identify their talents 
for placement and to enable 
them to offer a successful and 
meaningful service.
But the military service 
paradigm in Israel is changing, 
as a recent poster has indi-
cated. It upends the classic 
ideal, calling for “The Best to 
Cyber,” a play on the decades-
old slogan that directed the 

best to elite combat units. 
The Start-Up Nation has 
been ascendant in the IDF, 
with the gifted and techno-
logically minded candidates 
recruited to intelligence units 
such as 8200 or the military’s 
technological sector. It is here 
where cutting-edge Israeli mil-
itary inventions are conceived 
and born, such as the Merkava 
tank, the Namer (leopard) 
armored infantry fighting 
vehicle, the lightweight “Spike” 
rocket launcher, the Eye Ball 
360-degree image identifier 
and, of course, the famous 
Iron Dome air defense system, 
to name just a few.
Today many alumni of these 
intelligence and technological 
units lead the Start-Up Nation 
in the field of cyber, AI and 
defense. A soldier who com-
pletes three years’ service in 
these units, even prior to a 

university education, can find 
himself recruited to a start-up 
offering a salary and benefits 
that the average Israeli family 
with three children could only 
dream to earn.
The IDF understands that 
innovation and entrepreneur-
ship are key for an army of 
the 21st century. Major. Gen. 
Eran Niv, head of the Cyber 
Defense Unit in the General 
Staff, has identified the crucial 
need for developing and inte-
grating new technologies that 
will ultimately reach the com-
bat and operational units. As 
Niv recently said in an inter-
view with the Ha’aretz daily, 
“The technology is changing, 
the political-diplomatic situ-
ation is changing, the enemy 
— and us, too. It is impossible 
to hope that we will remain in 
the same place and yet keep 
up with the pace. It’s far from 

certain that what worked in 
the last war will work in the 
next war.”
At a recent ceremony of 
the graduating class of the 
Air Force pilot’s academy, the 
Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv 
Kochavi, emphasized that, 
“the best are first of all the 
fighters, as measured by their 
willingness to contribute to 
the country and sacrifice their 
lives to protect others.” 
It is clear that for the IDF to 
continue to lead in the region, 
it must find the best talent for 
both the combat as well as the 
technology units. 

Naomi Miller is Director of Israel 

Partnerships at the Michigan Israel 

Business Accelerator and Israel 

Representative and Missions 

Director for the Jewish Federation 

of Metropolitan Detroit. This column 

first appeared on the Michigan Israel 

Business Accelerator newsletter.

Naomi Miller 

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