...My daughter, who's currently in basic training in Karkal - one of the few mixed men-women combat units - was home for Shabbat. In passing, I mentioned that a photographer friend thought it would be interesting to come down and do a story on the unit.

"Yes, Ma'ariv was here this week talking to Elinor," she said matter-of-factly, referring to one of the Hebrew tabloid daily papers. "I guess she's the first Arab girl to join a combat unit."

"What? You have an Arab girl in your unit?" I squeaked. "And you never told me? That's a great story."

"I guess it is - it's in Ma'ariv today," she told me, as we went online and saw the huge photo of Elinor Joseph in battle gear and camouflage.

The story described how Joseph, a Christian Arab living outside of Haifa, has excelled in the unit. She labels herself "Arab, Christian and Israeli" in that order, and received special permission from the IDF to take her uniform off and put on civilian clothes before reaching home, in case any of her neighbors don't share her allegiance to the state.

My daughter said that she's 'one of the guys' and is 'hamoodi' (cute), and aside from a slight accent in Hebrew, nobody would ever know that she wasn't one of the other Jewish Israelis in the unit...