Mother of young IDF soldier from Staten Island says she's both fearful and proud: "It's overwhelming at times"
NEW YORK -- Fighting with the Israeli Defense Forces, or IDF, are young Americans, including a recent high school graduate from Staten Island.
CBS New York's Dave Carlin spoke to her mother. She did not want her name to be shared.
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"I don't know where she is. I worry about her," the mother said.
Her daughter left their Staten Island home for Israel 10 months ago and now fights in a war.
"They're going into these hot zones and it's so unpredictable," the mother said. "If I don't hear from my daughter for a certain number of hours, it turns into a legitimate nightmare here. The panic, it feels, it's overwhelming at times. It's very scary."
She sets the dinner table with the spot is where her daughter sat until she signed up with the IDF at 18 years old.
"She's our little cat, we call her, and she's coming home. She'll be home," the mother said. "It's going to be an endless party ... She's going to get the most yummiest stack of schnitzel."
This mother says she is both fearful and very proud.
"She knows what it takes to give back. It was embedded in her, being also a granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor who is still alive today in Israel. She has also heard the stories firsthand of survival," the mother said. "Because she had seen the unity, the support worldwide ... She's been contemplating extending the service beyond the contract she has signed."
The mother says she signed for two years and two months.
"She may stay longer, and I support her," she said. "I think her whole unit is very proud to show that women are capable, are beyond qualified to perform the duties ... Your gender, color, race, religion, they are all mixed in to one unit, and they fight together."
The family is working with organizations to raise funds for medical supplies, hygiene kits and more to be sent to the soldiers.
