About eighteen months ago I started a series for a Dutch newspaper “Grunberg Among the People.” For these series I traveled to Afghanistan, Kosovo, Montenegro, Lebanon, Guantánamo Bay, Paraguay and Ghana. I visited Lori Berenson, together with her father, in her prison cell in Peru, and I spoke with the founders of a small political party in the Netherlands, which favors legalization of sex with children.
Since last year also I have been trying to write a series of articles about the IDF (Israel Defense Forces). First I visited the Israeli embassy in The Hague. Through the press attaché in The Hague I got in contact with an IDF press officer. Thanks to a lady friend this contact was intensified.
Nevertheless being embedded seemed to be impossible, but I could train with the troops.
First I was supposed to do that in September. At the last moment my visit was cancelled. The officer said that all trainings were cancelled.
Then I was supposed to train with the IDF in December, but more or less the same thing happened. A few days before my departure I was told that the trainings were closed for media.
If I want to write these articles maybe I have no other option: I have to join the IDF.

PS My assistant is working on an appointment with the IDF for early spring.