More than 30 young leaders and supporters of Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF), who represent communities from across the United States, are set to join the FIDF National Rising Leaders Mission to Israel from June 29-July 5. The mission has two purposes: to allow the US FIDF leaders to show their appreciation for Israel’s soldiers under increasingly trying conditions and to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the formation of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Mission participants – members of FIDF’s Young Leadership (YL) Division – will be given a unique look into both the workings of the IDF and be given an opportunity to tour the country. Military officers will provide them with in-depth briefings, they will tour strategic IDF bases to get a behind-the-scenes look into the Israeli military, and experience Israel – from the Golan Heights to the Negev desert – in a new new way.

The group of FIDF leaders will ride horseback across the Golan Heights and Jordan Valley, experience Bedouin hospitality firsthand, hear from the men and women who operate the Iron Dome air defense missile batteries that keep Israel safe from incoming terrorist rocket fire, meet the combat soldiers who stand watch over Israel’s borders, and visit many of Israel’s historic sites.