The NAZA storm has subsided - the question remains: the price of excellence of Unit 8200

Dr. Michael Oren writes that despite the need to prosecute the 8200 officers who participated in the film "NAZA", the environment that produced them remains intact. He argues that the unit perpetuates the social gap through preferential recruitment from higher socioeconomic strata, and calls for diversifying its ranks without harming its performance.

Dr. Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the UN and the US, writes an opinion piece on Unit 8200 following the storm over the film "NAZA". He calls for prosecuting the 24 intelligence officers who accused Israel of war crimes, but argues that the environment that produced them remains intact. Oren notes the unit's immense security contribution, but also that it perpetuates and deepens the social gap in Israel through preferential recruitment from higher socioeconomic strata. He quotes an anonymous 8200 officer who claims that most of those serving in the unit are leftists. Oren calls for diversifying the unit's ranks without harming its performance, and for granting combat soldiers benefits similar to those of 8200 veterans.