Capt. Yehonatan Cohen is a conspicuous character on the IDF base where he serves. Born two months premature and severely oxygen deficient, he developed cerebral palsy, a condition that left him physically disabled. Today, the young man is wheelchair-bound and unable to move his hands. Cohen requires physical assistance with many daily functions including eating, drinking and bathing, and with significantly impaired vision, relies on others to read aloud to him.
Despite his physical limitations, Cohen’s exceptional intellect and determination spurred him to success. His parents are former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen and his wife, Aya, and apparently, the same willpower and unflagging fortitude that enabled Yossi Cohen to orchestrate daring international missions and save Israeli lives extended to his child-rearing, as well.
“My parents never gave up. They really taught me that I’m capable, and I grew up knowing that I was,” says Capt. Yehonatan Cohen in an interview with the IDF blog published in honor of the UN’s International Day for People with Disabilities.
At his parents’ insistence and driven by fervent desire to integrate into general society, Cohen attended high school with non-disabled students and graduated with honors. When all of his peers received their call-up orders, Yehonatan professed his desire to enlist, as well, citing his devotion and love to the IDF and Jewish state.
Escorted by his aide, he visited the IDF recruitment office where he was immediately informed that his condition would prevent him from serving. “In my family, there was no such thing [as not enlisting],” Cohen says emphatically. “We enlist – no matter what. So although I wasn’t obligated to enlist in a formal or legal sense, from an ethical and Zionist standpoint, I certainly was.” Although the IDF exempted him from service, the younger Cohen insisted that the army accept him as a volunteer.
Over the next year and a half, Cohen bombarded the IDF with letters and appeals, meeting with several of the IDF’s highest-ranking officers to plead his case. He eventually reached the director of the IDF’s Human Resources Department, who told him about opportunities to enlist as a volunteer. After a long and determined struggle, Cohen finally realized his dream and received the coveted order to join the Israeli army.
Cohen earned a distinguished position in the IDF Education Corps, where he became an advisor for Israeli teenagers on the brink of entering the army. He immediately connected with the role, realizing that it would allow him to impart his passion to others. Through presentations to groups of students, he helped hundreds of young Israelis understand why they should be motivated to serve in the IDF. “There is the official requirement to serve,” he explains, referring to the obligation of all Israelis to enlist in the army, “but there is another stage, another level, which is the privilege to serve.
“There are many obligations in the State of Israel – paying taxes and stopping at a red light – but here we have a privilege to proclaim: ‘I am serving the State of Israel; I am serving the IDF’, or as I would say: ‘I contributed, I acted and I didn’t leave the fate of my country in the hands of others.’” This moving statement became a central theme in Cohen’s message to Israeli youth during his time as an advisor, and today, still motivates him to serve and contribute as a full member of Israeli society.
After nine months in the army, Cohen left for an officers’ training course and returned to his unit as lead advisor. Identifying his teaching talents, the IDF promoted him to an elite intelligence role where he taught Islamic history to soldiers. After over a year, he left the army to earn a degree, but halted his studies midway and returned to IDF Intelligence, which is his passion.
When asked about his efforts on behalf of his son, Yossi Cohen said, “My dream for Yehonatan was that the State of Israel should be a place where society accepts and includes people with disabilities by right and not by grace. I fervently believed that the ultimate expression of this is service in the IDF, which is the melting pot of Israeli society.”
Demonstrating that his commitment to this ideal was not only about his son but also about society, Cohen has just joined the IDF’s Special in Uniform’s leadership. An affiliate of JNF-USA, Special in Uniform integrates young people with disabilities into the IDF, and in turn, into Israeli society. It builds upon the unique talents of each individual participant to help them find a job within the IDF that is a perfect fit, based on the credo that everyone belongs and has the right to reach his or her full potential. Special in Uniform focuses on the ability, not the disability, of each individual, encouraging transformation, independence and integration into society.
To date, Special in Uniform has integrated 900 youths with disabilities and autism into 45 IDF bases around Israel, proving successful in dissolving societal barriers and stereotypes and fostering inclusion and acceptance of diversity. The experience for the young soldiers doesn’t culminate with military service, which can last several years, but has permanent benefits. The discharged soldiers enter the workplace with invaluable skills and expertise, and companies and authorities around Israel, ranging from municipal offices to Intel, seek them out.
The heartwarming story of Special in Uniform and young women and men like Capt. Yehonatan Cohen has taken flight, inspiring countries and nations around the world.
Recently, a delegation arrived from the US to Israel to learn about the program and seek means of adapting it to the United States’ Armed Forces.
Welcoming the new leader, Special in Uniform director Tiran Attia said, “We are delighted to have Yossi Cohen on board. As an unrivaled warrior and the father of a child with cerebral palsy who surmounted all odds to reach incredible attainments, we’re certain that his strength and superb leadership qualities will help us set a higher standard for the organization, expand and enhance the system. Our immediate goal is to double the number of young people in the program within two years and to offer quicker response to the thousands of young people eagerly waiting to join. I am very grateful to Yossi for joining our leadership, with the goal of improving the future of people with disabilities in Israel.“
When asked if he has a message for his fellow young Israelis with disabilities, Capt. Cohen doesn’t hesitate before replying: “We disabled people have to strive our utmost to penetrate the so-called ‘normal’ society, and try hard to continue the revolution that we are sparking in Israel and around the world. We are part of this society, so just keep going, and keep fighting.”