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defeat and ultimately erase the state of Israel. But we

and hundreds of thousands of men under arms – that was by far our

” I said. “But what I saw in France was an entire ecosystem

which seemed to me a reminder of the danger

allied with individual strength and teamwork

Avraham asked me to share my experiences

they had mounted free-lance attacks on the insurgents

the far-right anti-De Gaulle opposition in the French army in the late

and the locals would literally cross the street to avoid us. Later

my few words of French would not have been much help in

I began to sense a darker side in them as well. They didn’t talk much.

and the obvious closeness they had built during

but could hardly abstain altogether. The first exercise

without safety cables or nets. Our training inside the fortress always

I was at least their equal in fitness. I had also not spent years

flew to Perpignan in southeastern France. There were

at least legally. I had no passport. I didn’t own a suit or a tie. But

in the Pyrenees along the Spanish border. I’d never been

Merglen proposed a series of exchanges. The

Avraham even insisted on our wearing French-style berets in