Israeli-Windsorite prepares to join front lines of Israel-Hamas war

Omri Azriel moved to Windsor two years ago — but he doesn’t call it home.

For him, home is more than 9,000 km away in Israel, where he’ll soon return to join the ranks of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as the Israel-Hamas war rages on.

“There is a saying, when duty calls,” he says.

“I will do what I have to do. It’s not a question.”

As is mandatory for all who grow up in Israel, Azriel first joined the IDF a decade ago as an 18-year-old.

He served in the Artillery Corps for three years, resigning as a First Sergeant in command of a small crew of five people.

Now 28, he says he couldn’t sit by and watch the images coming out of his home country.

“The moment I found out what happened, I contacted my commander and asked what was going on,” Azriel says.

“The response was: ‘just be aware of the fact that you might get called. Try the best as you can to come here before the borders and airlines will close everything up.’”

He says he missed that window, with limited airline options amid the violence in the area.

His plan is to travel to Europe and fly into his home city of Tel Aviv from there.

Adding that each hour that passes before he can get there he grows more and more anxious.

“I really want to be there,” says Azriel. “I really want to help my brothers, my sisters, my family and all my people.”

Azriel says all his friends back home have already been drafted, now out on the front lines while he’s on “secondary call.”

He says the call could come for him to report to those same front lines at a moment’s notice.

“It could be tonight. It could be tomorrow. It could be in a week or two weeks,” says Azriel.

Whenever that moment comes, he says he’s ready -- uncertain if he’ll return to Windsor when the fight is over.