Eliana Small, 27-28, is a Canadian from Toronto who went to Israel in 2014 as part of the Garin Tzabar program, which facilitates immigration there.
Small was featured in a story by La Presse about Canadians joining the Israeli army. The publication reported (in French): “‘My thoughts always came back to the idea of the army. If I ever want to live there, I would feel bad that I had never served, when everyone in Israel has to do so,’ the teenager explains. The military operation in Gaza and the recent death of some 60 Israeli soldiers are not enough to change it. ‘I’m going to protect Israel. I love Israel and if there’s a war right now, it just means that they need to be protected even more,’ she believes. His father, Mitchell Small, hardly accepts his daughter’s decision. ‘It’s never certain,’ he said. ‘I worry about his safety and that of his friends, about his physical and mental health. I’m worried about all the things that a father has to worry about.’”
