Call of duty: Meet the Israeli soldier who commutes from London

“When I tell my comrades that the army isn’t paying for my flights they call me a “freier“, Itamar Mayshar laughed, referring to the Hebrew word for “sucker.” But for the 34-year-old Dutch-Israeli sniper in the Israeli army reserve, it’s an honour to show up for duty despite living here in the UK, he told Jewish News in an interview.

Mayshar has an interesting story. He was born in Israel to an Israeli father and a Dutch mother, but due to his father’s job in a high-tech company, the family moved around a lot, leaving Israel for the U.S. when he was only two.

The family then moved to Belgium, Singapore and finally, when Mayshar was seven, they moved to the small city of Hereford in the UK where they spent the next 10 years.

When he finished high-school, Mayshar flirted with the idea of moving moving to a new country to study. But his brother, who is 18 years older and had served in the Israeli army, made him change his mind.

“My brother said ‘no, you are going back to Israel and going to the army and do your part’. And I thought he was right. I guess for my family it was always in the cards,” Mayshar said.

Mayshar served as a sniper with the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer (SCPO) in the Givati Brigade, which is one of the five infantry brigades of the IDF and is one of the two infantry brigades under the Southern Command.

A few years after Mayshar finished the army he decided to move back to the UK in 2018 to study.

But unlike most Israelis who move abroad after the army, Mayshar insisted on continuing to show up for reserve duty, despite not being obligated.

When Mayshar enrolled at the university in the UK, he knew he had to ask for permission to leave the studies from time to time to show up for reserve duty. To his surprise, they were very accommodating and took his special circumstances into consideration.

“They hadn’t dealt with a situation like this before but they were very good about it. They were understanding. It was foreign to them never gave me any problems about it,” Mayshar said.

I believe in Israel and the importance of the army. I feel like it’s our duty to go. We have to go when we are called up

This means that over the span of four years of studying he flew back to Israel six times for reserve duty, serving both in the West Bank and along the Egyptian border, bringing his books with him to avoid falling behind in his studies.

“I’m not doing this for the money. It’s all about ideology. I believe in Israel and the importance of the army. I feel like it’s our duty to go. We have to go when we are called up,” he said.

Mayshar’s dedication to the IDF while he lived abroad earned him the “Outstanding reservists of the Reserve Corps award.”

Despite being raised in an English speaking home and having been in different countries abroad from the age of two to 18, Mayshar always felt connected to Israelis and Jews.

And due to the lack of a Jewish or Israeli community in the city of Hereford where Mayshar spent a lot of his childhood, he always enjoyed when the family met Israelis or Jews in other parts of the country.

“I always felt more of a connection with them,” he said. It was therefore only natural for him to get involved with the tiny Jewish representation at the university, ending up leading the Jewish society.

“It’s important to me that there is a Jewish presence in the university,” he said.

Mayshar’s involvement in the Jewish society at university as well as his strong belief in Israel come from his family’s deep roots in the Zionist movement. His great grandmother Clara participated in the first Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897.

“It’s not always easy or great to live in Israel but it’s the only place that truly feels like home. And not in the sense that it’s the Holy Land, just that it’s my home. I was born a Jew and I will die a Jew.”