Here are some select portions of the rather lengthy article, translated:
Captain ‘B’s clothing closet at the Palmachim Air Base is where she hides the greatest secret of her life. Captain ‘B’, in her twenties, is the first female Arab flight mechanic in the history of the IDF, and in fact, the first female airborne service person from the Arab community. Except for a few close family members and the members of her squad, no one knows.
Captain ‘B’ lives in an Arab village, which includes a militant population, who, to put matters mildly, are not among the “lovers of Zion.” Thus, for the five years that she has served in a variety of positions in the Air Force, she’s never gone home wearing a uniform. “In my clothes closet at the base,” she says, “there are more civilian clothes than uniforms. And when I get to the base in civvies, I go straight to the room, change clothes, and then head out to the squadron. And vice-versa: before I go home, I change into civilian clothing. You wouldn’t believe how careful we have to be at home. In the winter and in the summer, we launder the uniforms and they go straight into the dryer—we would never hang them outside to dry.”
And that’s because why? What would happen if people in the village knew what you do?
Someone would get attacked. That’s for sure.
From your family?
Yes.
And they’d have to be taken out of the village [for their safety]?
I don’t think there’d be anyone to take out after that.
Really? To that extent?
I think so.
And then, when we leave the office and head to the landing strip of the Black Hawks of Squadron 123, where she is now serves, she’s transformed. Captain ‘B’ stands tall, doesn’t stop smiling. Wearing her flight jumpsuit and her helmet and visor that cover her face, she hops quickly onto one of the helicopters to be photographed. It’s evident that here, among the flying machines that come in and out of Gaza, she’s more comfortable in her own skin than she is in the streets of the village where she was born and raised.
How long are you really going to be able to keep this secret from the people in your village?
There’s been an escalation in my village of late. Violent incidents, grenades, shootings. My own motto is “it’s good to die for our land” [DG – a famous quote commonly attributed to the early Zionist icon Yosef Trumpeldor], and I don’t care if they kill me, but the thought that they might do something to my family, and even worse, because of me? I couldn’t live with that. My priorities in life are first God, then my family, then the army.