On October 7, Muslim Bedouin IDF soldier Lt.-Col. Nader Eyadat was at home when reports of the rocket launches against Gaza border communities began. He decided to go to the Tze’elim Ground Forces training base in the Negev to ready himself to defend the South.
While he was driving, the phone rang. On the other end was Col. Tal Ashur, who had just been appointed acting commander of the Southern Brigade after the late Col. Asaf Hamami was killed battling terrorists.
“It was a short conversation,” Tal said, “’Hamami was killed. I’m taking his place. The battalion commander of the reconnaissance battalion was seriously wounded: Take command.’”
The 39-year-old Eyadat is a married father of two, and is a member of the Bedouin community from Beit Zarzir. He enlisted into the IDF in 2005 and has since been deployed as a fighter in the Desert Reconnaissance Battalion, which operates in the area of the southern division around Gaza.
Eyadat has since risen through the ranks. He was the first Bedouin to finish the squad commander course. He commanded the reconnaissance battalion when violent disturbances on the border of the Gaza Strip threatened the Israeli home front. After that, he went to school and got a position at the army training center in Tze’elim.
Many of the division’s soldiers and commanders of the desert patrol battalion were on weekend leave on October 7, and some of them were part of training missions for several weeks, so their place in the southern division was filled by Nahal Brigade soldiers.
“We organized very quickly as an initial force,” Lt.-Col. Eyadat said. “We had the mission to retake control of part of Route 232 and clear it of terrorists... Suddenly you see damaged tanks and armored personnel carriers on the roads, wounded civilians and corpses of Nukhba terrorists. I understood what was going on when I saw the body of a civilian at an intersection with a bullet in the head,” he said.
“Until then, I was very focused on organizing the mission. I couldn’t believe that this was happening,” Eyadat recalled. “Then, we had an encounter with terrorists at the Gama junction” located between Kisufim and Be’eri. “My fighters and I know the sector like the back of our hands, we trained on infiltration scenarios [of] one, two, three terrorists. Who would have thought that thousands of terrorists would infiltrate?”
THE FIGHTERS began taking over the central axes to allow the entrance of additional units from north to south and to enable the evacuation of civilians. “Some of the forces remained at the junctions and some moved towards the kibbutzim. At Kibbutz Holit, we helped evacuate the wounded. We heard that there was a shooting at the Sufa outpost. I arrived at the place and met a Caracal Battalion commander at the entrance while Shayetet 13 fighters were fighting inside,” Eyadat said.
“At a distance of 100 meters, I saw a white van standing still. I sent forces to scan and heard gunshots. After a few minutes, one of the commanders came and reported to me that there was an encounter with two terrorists and that a fighter was wounded.”
The unit was tasked with clearing the roads leading to their base, rescuing civilians, and locating Thai-speaking foreign workers in the area who were hiding in greenhouses. “The Bedouin warriors are brave. No need to tell us where to go. We know the area very well,” said Eyadat, adding that since October 7, members of the battalion have participated in a large number of additional operations to uncover and neutralize terrorist infrastructure near the buffer zone within Gaza.
On June 6, suspicious movements were detected, and a group of reconnaissance battalion soldiers was sent to scan the border area. At the very beginning, the commander decided to lead the operations under the cover of the fog. The force under his command identified terrorists trying to infiltrate into Israel, at which point an exchange of fire took place. In the battle, the battalion’s tracker, who was a relative of Eyadat, was killed. The reconnaissance battalion fighters managed to kill three terrorists.
“It’s good that it was the 585th Battalion that was sent to the scene,” said a senior officer in the Southern Command. “They foiled the first major attack deep into Israel for the first time since October 7. The defense minister and the chief of staff who arrived at the area praised them.”
ACCORDING TO Eyadat, there is a clear connection between the reconnaissance battalion and the IDF. “First of all, we fight for the land,” he said. “We have been shoulder to shoulder in the IDF since 1948. We have 30 fallen soldiers in the unit who were not killed in vain. Then everyone saw what happened here on October 7. Hamas did not differentiate between anyone: It killed Bedouins and Jews all the same.
“This is a terrorist organization that wants the destruction of the country. The veteran fighters of the reconnaissance battalion came here without anyone asking them and rushed here from anywhere in the country without questions,” the commander said. “They told me that it is impossible to sit at home when such events take place.”
The intense connection and motivation also led to the establishment of the first reserve company of the Bedouin Reconnaissance Battalion. Abd Allah El Abid, a fighter in the reserves, who is married and a father to three daughters, came from his home in the Tel Sheba area of the Negev on his own accord and has been in the service ever since.
“As a Muslim, I say that it is not written in the Quran to kill civilians, burn babies, rape women. In what religion does it say that? But they did it. I will insult animals if I say they are animals. Everything they did is against Islam.”
Eyadat pointed to the area where they identified a terrorist ambush on the first day. “There is a video where you see a Bedouin father begging for his life and he is holding a small child. They tell him: ‘You are a traitor’ and killed him in front of his son. This is a very difficult video. You see the hate in the videos. Also of the citizens of Gaza. They hide behind religion and educate to hate. They murdered and kidnapped Bedouins.”
El Abid explained: “The Bedouins will fight until the last drop of blood. All Bedouins think the same. Hamas killed Arabs, Bedouins, and Jews – no difference. I am proud of my military service. I volunteered for regular service and here I am. I will be here as long as they ask me to be.”
When you’re not on uniform, do you receive the same attitude?
When asked if he is treated with the same attitude when he’s not in uniform, Eyadat said, “I have never felt racism in my life. I walk around with a uniform and a weapon with great respect and pride. I call on others to volunteer as well.”
“The reconnaissance battalion is a family,” the commander explained. “There are Jews and Bedouins here. They’re all together. There are stigmas about Bedouins, but when you get to know them, that disappears...
“The bond between all the soldiers is forever,” he said. “I am proud to serve in the IDF.”