Aussie mother pleads with Israeli Defence Force son: ‘I need you more’

Tzvika Gershowitz, a 20-year-old Australian sniper on the front lines in Israel, could not step away from his duty, his mother says.

Australia-born Galit Gershowitz and her Sydney-raised son Tzvika, 20, who is an IDF sniper near the Gaza frontlines.

Tzvika Gershowitz’s mother pleaded with him on Saturday not to return to Israel as Hamas launched a brutal attack on the ­nation’s southern towns.

The 20-year-old Israeli Defence Force sniper had been visiting his family for the past month in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, where he grew up.

Halfway back to Israel on Saturday, his flight was delayed for 19 hours in Hong Kong as news of the shock offensive came to light.

His mother, Galit, just coming out of synagogue for the Jewish festival Simchat Torah, called him in a panic.

“I said to him, you’ve done two years (in the army), you’ve done amazing work. We know what you’re capable of. Just come home. I tried to contact the Australian embassy in Hong Kong.”

But her son was steadfast in his decision. He had joined the army when he was 18 and over the past two years trained to become a sniper in the elite combat unit.

Tzvika Gershowitz, 20, grew up in Sydney and he is now the frontlines of Israel’s war.

He told his mother: “This is what I’ve been training for. My day has come. I can’t let my boys go through this without me.”

She pleaded. “I need you more. We need you.”

“Mum, we’ll be fine. I’ve got this,” he responded.

Ms Gershowitz said she wasn’t sure those “boys” would understand the enormity of the mission in front of them until they went into Gaza, which is what her son was now waiting to do.

When he touched down in ­Israel, he returned straight to his base just outside of Gaza, where he was the only Australian.

For Tzvika Gershowitz, described by his mother as a lost and oftentimes difficult kid who had ADHD and wasn’t very good in school, the IDF had given him purpose and self-worth.

“I think he always felt different, a little out of the box, and finally he found his place, his purpose … he found meaning and brotherhood and unity, camaraderie, something bigger than himself,” Ms Gershowitz said.

Tzvika Gershowitz, who grew up in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and is now an IDF sniper on the front lines, with his girlfriend Moneik.

Tzvika Gershowitz’s father, a rabbi, had pushed him to consider the IDF since he was young, believing it would give him discipline and stability.

“He succeeded at every level he had to go through. A sniper is maths and calculations and angles and that’s for a kid who never lifted a finger at school … He feels the army is his family now,” Ms Gershowitz said.

That gives her and her husband some comfort at home 14,000km away. She can no longer contact her son, receiving updates only through his commander.

“Yes, we are so proud of him, but we’re a million miles away at home holding on to the next message, the next Whats­App, the next email,” she said. “Days are nights and nights are days. We’re on the phone 24/7 to hear something, while trying to get on with day-to-day life … It’s like you’re in a fog.”

“Hopefully the commander is telling us the truth, that he will look after our boys. It’s horrendous in 2023, what’s going on.”

Her son had told her often “You believed in me when no one believed in me”, Ms Gershowitz said, becoming emotional and saying she must have faith again.

“The only thing that’s going through my mind is the faith that god will bring the boys back home.

“The hardest thing for me now, is I just want him to come home safe. I want them all to be safe.”

Sydney woman Galit Gershowitz and her son Tzvika at an IDF awards ceremony where he received his first purple beret and became a combat fighter.

She said she “never, ever, ever” thought her son would be thrust into war. “(The IDF) was something you do to get structure … to become a good citizen, then come home or continue living in Israel.

“I still feel like I’m living in a nightmare. It’s an honour for us (to see him join the IDF) – my father fought in the Yom Kippur War – but unfortunately now Tzvika is going to war.”

“As a mother, the scariest thing is that phone call … This kind of phone call or door knock no ­mother ever wants.”

Tzvika is the second of six children, his youngest sibling being seven years old, and Ms Gershowitz said she was also trying to protect his siblings from the crisis.

“We wanted to go to the Opera House on Monday … but we were instructed to stay indoors. There’s a sense of fear and confusion among my children. They are as Australian as they get. I was born here. We aren’t Israelis living in Australia … We’re very proud to be Australian. My children are confused and scared.”