Gdud Aliyah

The long lasting PalestinianIsraeli conflict has created appaling phenomenons that have horrified the Israeli society the politically consciencerefusals or those individual soldiers refusing to fight in the occupied territories are one of those phenomenons In opposition to them stand a thousand immigrants from the former Soviet Union exmilitary men from the Red Army who yearn to be recruited into the IDF and fight for Israel but who are denied the right to serve in the army Through the stories of Oleg and Alex immigrants and the battalions charismatic commanders the story of the Russkii Battalion is told It is a story of contrasts between the hardships of the daily struggles they face as new immigrants against the pride and the sense of belonging they find in the battalion The Russkii Battalion is a film about a militaristic social bubble in a country that is in constant war