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Israeli Defense Forces soldier coaches at Grand Rapids basketball camp

Barak Peleg was an IDF soldier for five years and since the Israel-Hamas conflict has volunteered in Israeli hospitals.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Barak Peleg served for the Israeli Defense Forces for five years. 

While serving, Peleg would also be pursing a career as a professional basketball player.

"I found the way to combine basketball and serving in the army," said Peleg.

After serving, he continued on his basketball track. Today, he is a coach for Israel's Hapoel Galil Elion. But that was put to a halt in October following the start of the Israeli-Hamas conflict.

"We [were] supposed to start our game on October 8th. The league shut down," Peleg said. "All the players left."

Peleg took the time to return to his IDF roots. Growing up in Kibbutz, it was standard for residents to end up enlisting. 

As a small community, young men typically worked their way to the military. 

"My best, best, best friends all my life was my team in the army," said Peleg. "That's how we build our identity, through wars, so the immediate reaction for all of us was that we need to jump and run and help."

That is exactly what Peleg did at the start of the Israeli-Hamas conflict. He started volunteering in hospitals, helping to heal the wounded.

"Our education, it's not just live our own life, in my, you know, 100 meters square," Peleg said. "It's community, it's group, basketball team, coaching team. You always need to support your friends and that's our mentality as people in Israel."

Peleg left home for a few days to coach in Rick Mahorn's basketball camp this week. Coming to the United States was almost a distraction for Peleg.

"Day after day after day you think it's finished, but it's not over. So I think all of us found in basketball, kind of normal life, suddenly something to do."

"In the beginning, I thought that it can be a great therapy for me," Peleg said. "I [am] really happy that I came, really was [a] great experience. I'm ready to go back."

When asked if he still has hope, here is a portion of Peleg's answer: 

"Yes, yes, yes, I have hope."

"Our job will never end as a country, as an army, will never end until we [go] to bring back the last [hostage], life or death, until the last one. That's what our first priority, first mission and that will give us the hope to rebuild our country."

"Our enemy wants to destroy Israel. Basically, the people in Israel, most of them want peace. They want cooperation. They want a good relationship. We are not hating, not the Muslim, not the Christian, not the American. We [do not hate] the people."

"We protect ourselves as a people and our family and our kids and our daughters and our grandpa and the army, this is his job. We failed as the army. We failed, no doubt, but now our [strength] as a people in a country is to overcome crisis."

Peleg will fly back to Israel on Sunday and wanted peace to be his final message. 

"Learn and understand what's happened before you shout. Let us protect."

"We need to win and beat the evil, and then we get a hope and then our life going to be a normal life and hopefully going to be peace."

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