The Netzach Yehuda (Nahal Haredi) battalion returned to guard the Binyamin region on Wednesday after two months of training exercises.
The battalion is responsible for the villages that lie just outside of northern Jerusalem, including Bet El, Ofra, and Kochav Yaakov. A platoon commander said that the battalion has looked forward to being deployed in the Binyamin region, due to the hospitality he and his soldiers enjoy from the residents.
"The people here are great," he told Arutz Sheva. "They always give us food and drinks before Shabbat and the moral support really gives us the motivation to make sure nothing happens to those living here".
Netzach Yehuda had been training in the Jordan Valley for the previous two months which culminated in a unit-wide exercise that included tanks and drones.
"Every battalion exercise we do improves us and sharpens the skills of our soldiers and commanders," Lieutenant Colonel Itamar Deshel told Kikar Hashabbat. "The battalion works together in order to carry out its mission and achieve operational success. I am proud to be the commander of a battalion with the values of brotherhood, Zionism, and faith that are reflected in every mission and activity. "
Netzach Yehuda had caught an Arab gang responsible for terrorizing a stretch of highway in Binyamin during their last deployment in June. The terrorists had been throwing firebombs and rocks at cars driving near the village of Kochav Hashachar and had laid down strips of nails designed to puncture the tires of passing cars.
Netzach Yehuda is a battalion in the Kfir Brigade that enables haredi soldiers to serve in the IDF, but also includes a good number of Religious Zionist soldiers. Female soldiers are not deployed on base, and soldiers receive special food that conforms to a stringent halakhic standard of Jewish dietary laws.