ISRAEL’S EDGE: THE STORY OF THE IDF’S MOST ELITE UNIT - TALPIOT by Jason Gewirtz ( Gefen Publishing House.)

IDF is the Israel Defense Force

Talpiot is a Hebrew word meaning ‘tall turrets’ and/or ‘sturdy strongholds’
MAFAT is the acronym for Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure established in the early 1980s by Defense Minister Ariel Sharon and used as the ‘umbrella’ for all things R&D in the Israeli Military

The Yom Kippur War (October 1973) caught Israel a bit off guard. There was much soul-searching among military and government leaders, as well as fear and anxiety.
“How did this fiasco happen?” Israel asked itself.
In the years before the war, Israel was engaged in constant war and military preparedness. Also, many Arab nations were receiving mass shipments of arms from the Soviet Union. There were also new weapons and technology being used against Israel.

Israel was caught ‘napping’, so to speak. Two professors at Hebrew University, Professor Shaul Yatziv and Professor Felix Dothan, wanted to give Israel its edge back. Their idea or goal was to rearm Israel with the best and the brightest young minds who would work exclusively on research and development for the IDF.

It took several years to get the government and especially the IDF behind their idea. In 1977, Menachem Begin became Prime Minister and Rafael Eitan was appointed chief of staff. They were both committed to change and an elite educated unit in the army. Talpiot was finally born.
Many organizational details had to be worked out - the recruitment process; the admissions process; curriculum; teachers; examinations; program structure and the partnership and the cooperation of the IDF and MAFAT.

The first recruiting began for Talpiot and the program was developed. The first Talpiot class reported in the summer of 1979.

The rest is history.

This book is very interesting reading. The access points were very helpful - a good cover picture; an introduction; a table of contents (20 chapters); a timeline (which I found very helpful); a salute from the author and acknowledgements.

I especially liked chapter 20: The Future; the timeline; many comments about the Israeli educational system and education, in general; examples of the Talpiot graduate network; all the many accomplishments of the Talpiot participants; Unit 8200 and the many innovations that developed from Professor Yatziv and Professor Dothan’s original plan.

ISRAEL’S EDGE is very well-written, thoroughly researched and an interesting and educational read. I would heartily recommend this book