- The Israel national amputee football team is heading to France for the 2024 European Amputee Football Championships in June.
- The team lineup includes two Israeli soldiers who were seriously injured and lost limbs during the war in Gaza.
- Another member of the team was injured in an attack by Hamas terrorists on a Tribe of Nova concert.
Ben Binyamin was left for dead after his right leg was blown off during a Hamas attack on a Tribe of Nova concert, Israeli professionals Football Players Thought he would never play the game he loved.
“When I woke up,” the 29-year-old said, “I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair.”
Then Benjamin learned about his opportunity to be “normal” again: the Israel national disabled soccer team.
The team, which includes two Israeli soldiers who lost their limbs fighting in the war with Hamas, has allowed all three to recover from life-changing wounds sustained during the October 7 attacks and Israel’s upcoming war in Gaza. this is major to France For the European Amputee Football Championships in June. About 16 teams, mostly from Europe, will compete.
Israel amputee soccer team player Ben Binyamin controls the ball during a practice session in Ramat Gan on April 11, 2024. The team is heading to France for the 2024 European Amputee Football Championships in June. The team lineup includes two Israeli soldiers who were seriously injured and lost limbs during the Hamas battle in Gaza. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
“It’s the best thing that’s happened to me in my life,” said First Sgt. Omer Glikstal of the team’s twice-weekly practice at a stadium in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan. The 20-year-old soldier from Haifa played football regularly until a rocket-propelled grenade injured his left leg during a battle in Gaza in November, turning his life upside down.
“It’s a very different game than what I’m used to playing, but in the end it’s the same,” he said.
Dozens of Israelis lost limbs during Hamas attacks, which killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and the war that followed. Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, a major rehabilitation center, says it alone has treated about 60 amputees.
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Israel’s Defense Ministry says 1,573 soldiers have been wounded since Israel launched its ground offensive in late October, with troops engaged in close combat with Hamas militants. The army does not have specific figures on the number of disabled people but has said about 320 soldiers have been seriously injured.
Israeli athletes and others who have lost limbs have benefited from a world-class medical system with decades of experience treating youth injured in wars and conflicts.
An unknown number of Palestinians in Gaza have also lost limbs in the war, which has claimed about 34,000 lives, according to Gaza health officials. from Gaza health system has been overwhelmed by the war, and doctors and patients say they often need to choose between amputation or death. Before the war, Gaza also had a fledgling team of disabled football players injured in previous conflicts with Israel.
Israeli army division commander Shaked Bitton was shot by a Hamas sniper with a .50-caliber round, which can blast through concrete, near the Jabaliya refugee camp in late October, losing his right leg . “I heard two shots. I fell. I looked back and saw my leg,” the 21-year-old soldier said.
Bitton thought his life was over – he had never even met a disabled person before – until he met other people in the hospital who had lost limbs and were successfully rebuilding their lives. Had given.
They included Zach Shicharur, founder of the Israel national disabled football team. At the age of 8 he was seriously injured when a bus ran over his leg, he knew what these people were going through, and he gave them hope.
“There’s nothing greater than going out and competing internationally when you have the Israeli flag on your chest,” said Shicharur, 36, a lawyer. “Most of us, if not all, couldn’t even imagine something like this.” ” And team captain.
Since its establishment five years ago, the Israeli team has enjoyed increasing success, finishing third in the Nations League in Belgium in October. This qualified her to compete at the European Championships in June.
Amputee football teams consist of six field players who are missing lower limbs; He plays with the help of crutches and without artificial limbs. Each team has one goalkeeper missing his top end. The pitch is shorter than standard.
In team practice, Israeli players are not affected by the absence of an arm or leg – whether by accident, war injury or birth defect.
Cybersecurity expert Aviran Ohana, whose right leg is shorter than his left due to a birth defect, said, “We all have something in common. We have gone through very difficult and difficult times. It unites us. ” Played with the team for two years.
On a recent April evening, the team began its warm-up with a sprint around the pitch, the men moving quickly on one leg with the support of their crutches.
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After this a game was played against capable teenagers. Drenched in sweat, Benjamin kicked the ball with his left foot when the coach shouted from the sideline: “Forward! Forward!” Every goal was celebrated.
Sir Ludwig Gutmann, a Jewish neurologist who fled Nazi Germany in 1939 and settled in Britain, is credited with pioneering competitive sports as a form of rehabilitation. Gutmann, who organized the first competition for wheelchair athletes on the opening day of the 1948 London Olympic Games, is considered the father of the Paralympic Games and his legacy has improved the lives of thousands of disabled athletes.
in Israel Today, disability soccer teams provide players with the excitement of competition and the therapeutic powers of sport, said Michael Nechama, the team’s physical therapist.
“They need it for their soul,” she said. “It gives them joy, pride. That extra thing you can’t give in a hospital.”
