Zero Percent
Itay Bahur
מחיר קודם: $44
$31
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Zero Percent is a first-person documentary memoir that recounts the experience of a young Israeli soldier injured during military training as a result of systemic negligence. The book follows the author’s physical and psychological recovery alongside the bureaucratic processes that officially acknowledge the injury while ultimately denying disability status. Written in a direct, unsentimental voice, it offers a rare primary account of compulsory military service and institutional failure. The book serves as an important source for understanding injury, responsibility, and silence within military systems.
Itay Bahur’s credo reveals the side of the Israel Defense Forces many prefer to ignore, not the heroic, triumphant army of national myth, but an organization marked by mismanagement, narrow thinking, self-interest, and a systematic avoidance of accountability.
— Yaakov Rotblit, Yedioth Ahronoth, Weekend Magazine, October 2nd, 1998
About the Book
The book follows a highly motivated recruit who is seriously injured during selection for an elite military unit due to command and medical negligence. Facing the risk of amputation and lasting damage, he refuses early discharge and insists on completing his full military service. His account reveals a Kafkaesque system marked by bureaucracy, evasion of responsibility, and moral decline. Framed as a dialogue with another wounded soldier, the narrative explores the psychological impact of injury often missing from official records, positioning the book as both a literary work and a powerful firsthand testimony.
About the Author
Itay Bahur is an Israeli author and publisher whose work focuses on documentary literary nonfiction. His books explore trauma, society, and history, and he is regarded as an important voice in contemporary Israeli nonfiction.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Zero Percent about?
Zero Percent is a first-hand account of military injury, trauma, and institutional failure within a system of compulsory service.
Is this a novel or nonfiction?
The book is documentary autobiographical nonfiction, written in a literary form.
Why is the title Zero Percent?
The title refers to the official disability classification that denied the author compensation despite severe and permanent injury.
Who should read this book?
The book is intended for soldiers and veterans, their families, policymakers, and readers interested in trauma, military systems, Middle Eastern studies, and institutional accountability.
Why is this book a reliable source?
It is a primary eyewitness account written by the injured soldier himself, documenting events from direct personal experience
Key Topics
Military training injury caused by systemic negligence
Physical and psychological trauma in compulsory service
Bureaucratic denial and the “Zero Percent Disability” IDF classification
Medical neglect and command responsibility
Lived experience of wounded soldiers
Institutional failure and moral injury
Silence, cover-ups, and institutional protection
Documentary literary nonfiction as primary testimony
