As the nation experienced a rise in anti-Semitic attacks after violence escalated in the Gaza Strip between Israelis and Palestinians earlier this year, veterans from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) helped law enforcement protect a heavily Jewish neighborhood in Los Angeles, California.
Magen Am, a nonprofit Jewish security organization that means “nation’s shield” in Hebrew, launched the full-time armed response and patrol in April when global tensions rose. Almost all of its 12 Veterans Team Members (VTM) are “lone soldiers,” a term for people with no immediate family in Israel who moved there to enlist and serve in the IDF. The others served in the U.S. military.
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