I spent a little time with the IDF in the mid-80’s and the comments of an Israeli platoon sergeant who was carrying a CAR-15 pretty much summed up how the average Israeli soldier felt about the M-16 platform. I thought the CAR-15 he had was a pretty cool weapon particularly in light of the fact his unit was engaged in urban combat in Lebanon. “How do you like the CAR-15?” I asked. He face immediately screwed up into a mask of contempt, “I DON’T like it because you have to clean it!” The fact was at the time the average Israeli soldier was VERY rough on their weapons and somewhat indifferent to maintaining them which was why they created the Galil. I once saw an IDF soldier toss his rucksack off the top of the M113 he was standing on to the ground, and then drop his Uzi (at least he’d removed the mag) after it with the intent of it landing on his ruck-he missed and it clunked in the dirt. People at the time believed the IDF were infantry superheroes and the consummate fighting machine so it was kind of a shock for me to discover one the main reasons the Israeli’s appeared so good was the fact most of the people they’d fought over the years were so bad.
My point is over the years as the IDF phased out the Galil and replaced it with the M-16 they progressively learned they needed to clean and do weapons PM on the M-16’s to make them run and once they did they grew to like the system (getting soldiers to clean their weapons and changing an entrenched culture of maintenance apathy is NOT as easy at you might think especially since most of the IDF consists of reservists). Plus if you’ve carried a Galil (especially an ARM) for any length of time you’ll quickly appreciate a weapon that weighs significantly less. I was kinda surprised the IDF adopted the Tavor which I personally like very much. The only downside to the basic IDF Tavor (not the M95) was that Gawd awful trigger pull but that can be modified with an aftermarket trigger pack.