Maxim Rizhkov
19 October 2023
aged 30
aged 30
YAMAS AYOSH · Judea & Samaria
NO ONE SAW HIM.
THAT WAS THE JOB.
until you
He spent years learning not to be seen. He came home carrying what nobody saw. His brothers saw it too.
NOT HIS NAME.
NOT HIS FACE.
the mission is real
The Record
The part they could film. The rest stays under the mask.
The Record · Filmed with consent
06:00 · end of service
The uniform comes off.
The mission never does.
Israel's undercover
counter-terror unit
in the West Bank
YAMAS AYOSH - Yehidat Ha-Mista'arvim, the Mista'arvim Unit - is the Border Police undercover force in Judea and Samaria, operating under IDF and Shin Bet direction since 1991. Its operators enter hostile towns disguised as locals, speaking the language, wearing the clothes, drinking the coffee, to reach a terrorist before he reaches a bus stop.
The convoys wait beyond the edge of town for his signal. Inside the crowd he has a partner three feet away, a cover story, and nothing else. If one word comes out wrong, no armor arrives in time.
1991
The unit is founded
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Years of operations
3
Paths home we fund
Faces withheld by requestACTIVE PERSONNEL
Everything was returned
except what he carries
Equipment returnDischarge day
Israel Border Police · YAMAS AYOSHFinal copy
IssuedRifleReturned ✓
IssuedVestReturned ✓
IssuedRadioReturned ✓
IssuedUniformReturned ✓
Not listed on any form
KeptThe alertness at every doorNot returnable
KeptThe waking at three a.m.Not returnable
KeptFive namesCarried for life
The army takes back everything it gave him. His brothers take the rest.
DutyProfessionalismHumilityIntegrityCivic Responsibility
YACHAD ABIRIM
Together, Knights
A home for the unit's veterans, founded by the unit's own veterans. The man who answers the phone once stood in the same alley. Brotherhood doesn't end with service.
Three ways back
into a life
Every veteran gets a person, not a portal. No YAMAS veteran walks into civilian life alone.
The soft landing
Citizenship
Knight
The first twelve months out. Housing, employment, benefits he never claimed, debt he never mentioned: handled by someone who knows exactly what he's not saying.
- A welcome package and a person on the phone from the day of discharge
- His rights from the Ministry of Defense, made reachable
- A first grant, so the first months have air to breathe
The scholarship
Academic
Knight
Scholarships for veterans starting a degree or a trade, and a mentor from Derech Ha'Abir, the unit's own mentorship, who walks him through the first year. The men who protected the country get to build one.
- Academic and vocational studies
- For the unit's veterans aged 22 to 28, up to three years from discharge
- Removes the economic barrier, so the whole turn is toward excellence
Giving back
Community
Knight
Veterans mentoring at-risk teenagers, standing with the unit's bereaved families, showing up on the worst days. Service doesn't stop. It changes address.
- Senior mentors from industry: career, ventures, networking
- Command experience, translated into the language of business
- Beside the bereaved families, all year round
For the wounded,
in body and in soul
Some of the unit's veterans came home with an injury. Some came home with one nobody can see. Yachad Abirim stands beside them and helps with their rehabilitation, of the body and of what the body doesn't show.
No one here recovers alone.
Stand With Them
Patrick Peretz Frag
4 April 2002
aged 29
aged 29
Yehoshua Gabriel
13 January 1999
aged 24
aged 24
Amir Tuili
2 December 1995
aged 23
aged 23
Eliyahu Avram
26 August 1992
aged 29
aged 29
We carry
their names
Some of the brotherhood did not come home. Their families are part of ours: every year, every holiday, every quiet Tuesday when nobody else remembers.
What we're allowed
to show you
01 / 30
Photographs by Ziv Koren, Natti Shochat, the Israel Police and Border Police, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit and Ysabella, released under CC BY-SA. Israeli counter-terror and undercover units, not photographs of Yachad Abirim members.
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Thirty-five years in one room
A historic mark: thirty-five years since the unit was founded. A summit across the generations, and the first gathering of its kind.
- Across the generations
One event that brings every veteran of the unit, from every generation, into one room with the men who serve in it today.
- A working network
A networking platform without precedent: business partnerships between veterans, and a community that holds.
- A partner's seat
For a sponsor: focused exposure to a select, cohesive audience of leaders in the Israeli economy, at a salute to excellence.
From discharge
to the world
An ecosystem of leadership, in six stations. A man walks in at the first and, years later, stands for the country at the last.
- 01
Soft landing
A welcome package and immediate accompaniment for the discharged.
- 02
Scholarship funds
Academic and vocational support through Derech Ha'Abir.
- 03
Mentoring
Strategic guidance from senior figures in industry.
- 04
Across the generations
Thirty-five years since the unit was founded, marked together.
- 05
The world stage
The 2027 delegation: the unit's veterans representing Israel abroad.
- 06
Heritage and memorial
Social circularity, and the bereaved families never left alone.
The face of Israel
2027
The 2027 delegation
We are not looking only at tomorrow,
but at the decade after it.
- The vision
A representative delegation of the unit's veterans, sent abroad in 2027.
- The goal
Ambassadors of Israeli excellence, and of the unit's values, on the international stage.
- The impact
The fight against antisemitism, advocacy with substance, and the human capital of the IDF and of Israel, standing before communities and organisations around the world.
For foundations and partners
A strategic partnership,
a legacy built
An investment in the highest-quality human capital there is.
- A brand of excellence
A foundation or a company that shares the unit's values stands beside them: reliability, the will to make contact, professionalism without compromise, and responsibility to the society around it.
- Access to rare human capital
Direct, exclusive exposure to the veterans' network: a magnet for future talent, and for leaders who are used to working under pressure and inside complexity.
- Measurable social impact
A circular model in which every shekel gives twice: support for the fighter coming home, and a community envelope for the bereaved families.
- Talk to us about a partnershipWrite to us
info@yachadabirim.org
Leave a word
at the door
Every house like this one has a book by the door. Write your name, where you came from, and a line for the brothers, for the families, or for the men on the wall. A brother reads every line before it goes on the page.
1
He never asked
anyone for anything
So we're asking for him. He gave everything in service. Now it's our turn to give him our backing. Your gift becomes a therapist's hour, a mentor, a soft landing. And you can read the line items, because it's a receipt.
Requisition - Yachad AbirimReleased to donor
Item · what your money buys
$36A day's groceries for a veteran between discharge and his first paycheck.
$90One hour with a trauma therapist for a fighter who came home carrying what nobody saw.
$180A week of one-on-one mentoring on Derech Ha'Abir: a veteran who has already made the crossing, walking beside one who is just starting it.
$270Three sessions of therapy: the first month of getting the nights back.
$360A name in the room: toward the memorial and heritage room in Israel, so the next generation knows whose names they carry.
$540The discharge package waiting at the gate, a soft landing in civilian life from the first day.
$1,800A semester's tuition from the scholarship fund, so the opening move is his and not his debts'.
Your gift
Nothing chosen yet. Fund a line above, or several.
Total$0