Without Tsahal, the question of peace between Israël and its former enemies would never have been raised : Israël would no longer exist. Claude Lanzmann's film portrays, as no one has ever done before, the fighters - both officers and rank and file - of the Israëli Defense Force. Because he made "Shoah", Tsahal opened all its doors and revealed its secrets to Claude Lanzmann. This extraordinary film is about fear and courage, the conquest of courage, the price of blood - blood spilled and blood received - and the tight thread that links the jews of non-violence - the defenseless men, women and children of the Holocaust - with the combattants of modern Israël. But it also a film about weapons, about frontal assaults and subterfuge, about specific military strategies and tactics, illustrated by the heroic feats of five major wars and 45 years of permanent warfare.
