‘US group pays IDF to hold bar mitzvah parties at army bases’

An organization working in cooperation with the IDF has been offering American Jews the chance to celebrate bar and bat mitzvah parties alongside combat troops at closed off army bases — for a small fee.

For $70, guests can also join soldiers for a meal at a military dining hall, Channel 2 reported Friday. The channel later removed the article from its website after Connections Israel corrected a number of factual errors, including a claim that for $30 a person, American guests could take part in firing lessons at a shooting range, a weapons display, and the opportunity to view a combat tank up close.

Connections Israel clarified that it doesn’t allow participants to fire weapons or drive army vehicles, contrary to the report.

“The donations we receive primarily from schools overseas are directed and approved through Agudah L’maan Hachayal (The Association for the Wellbeing of Israel’s Soldiers),” Connections Israel said in its clarification. “In specific situations we request from the base to allow donors to thank the Israeli soldiers personally.”

According to Channel 2, such bar and bat mitzvah events have taken place even at closed off, sensitive bases where special and secret units train and serve.

The organization said it doesn’t hold private events on bases, “we support the IDF’s events on their own bases – unit dinners and barbecue, fleeces for the winter, hats and shirts for the summer,” spokesman Mordechai Cohen said in an email to The Times of Israel.

In light of the report, the IDF Spokesman Unit stated that the army was strongly opposed to such events, and prohibits units from independently collecting donations. The statement also noted that the army had recently begun a process to introduce regulation on the types of contributions and donations that a military unit may receive.

Connections Israel insisted that all of its activities in Israeli army bases and with soldiers were approved by the IDF.

Editor’s note: This article was corrected with input received from Connections Israel after Channel 2 removed its report.