The exclusive interview in “Vienna Today” on February 3rd at 7 p.m. on ORF 2W
Vienna (OTS) – “Even though I am an elite soldier, I am human and a father of two small children. Yes, I was scared. “I’m not a robot,” says 28-year-old Yasha in the ORF Vienna discussion series “Bei Budgen”.
On the day of Hamas’ attack on Israel, the man, who has lived in Vienna for seven years, flew to the war zone and was deployed there for more than 60 days. “I saw a lot of destroyed buildings and destroyed infrastructure there and a lot of tunnels. Under almost every hospital, every school, every kindergarten there is a tunnel with weapons and rockets. The Hamas terrorists are using the civilians so that they can continue to fight against us,” said the soldier.
For Yasha, who works in his civilian job in a Viennese law firm, everything changed on October 7, 2023: “To this day I can’t believe that all of this really happened. That my home is burning. Since I’ve been back in Vienna, I’ve been going to my psychologist very often to process what I’ve experienced,” says the soldier in an interview with Patrick Budgen.
As a reservist, he didn’t have to follow the call-up order, explains Yasha. Still, he didn’t hesitate for a moment. “I wouldn’t wish anyone to experience something like that. But in times like this, when you have the choice between family or home – in times like these, home comes first,” says the native Israeli.
The interview can be seen in advance on the ORF-TVthek and on ORF ON.
Questions & Contact:
Ruth Kienast
Marketing and communication
ORF regional studio Vienna
+43 1 50201-18586
+43 664 8178612
ruth.kienast@orf.at