Foreign Fighters for Israel: Mercenaries or Guardians of the Middle East’s “Only Democracy”?

Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, June/July 2024, pp. 39-41

Two Views: Israel is Using Foreign Fighters in its Genocidal War on Gaza

By Mustafa Fetouri

RECRUITING VOLUNTEERS to join the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has been an integral part of the doctrine of building the state of Israel since its inception. Thousands of Jews from around the world were recruited to help create apartheid Israel long before the 1940s. Radical Zionist recruiters crisscrossed the world, mostly in secrecy, encouraging any Jewish person they came across to join the battle to ethnically cleanse Palestine from its indigenous population to make room for the new state.

After the 1950s and the establishment of Israel, the idea of getting  foreign recruits for the IDF became more institutionalized and public than before. Today Israel’s occupation army openly advertises for citizens of other countries to join its ranks. Even the condition of being a “pure” Jew is no longer important. Such recruits are typically considered to be mercenaries—but not in the case of Israel.

IDF RECRUITMENT PROGRAMS

The IDF runs several “training” programs for foreigners wishing to join its ranks either permanently or temporarily. Mahal is one such project. On its website the project offers details for Jews around the world who might want to volunteer with the Israeli army briefly but do not want to emigrate to Israel. Among the countries targeted by Mahal is the United Kingdom. Any British citizen can register; priority is given to those whose parents or grandparents are Jewish (or at least one parent or grandparent is Jewish). Any male British citizen who is under 24 years old can join the program; for females they must be younger than 21. A rabbi, and not a government institution, determines the “Jewishness” of a volunteer.

Those volunteers perfectly fit the description of “mercenaries,” but Western media never see them as such and hardly acknowledge their existence in the current genocidal war in Gaza. The same media is quick to label as mercenaries soldiers recruited to fight with the Russian army in Ukraine (or non-nationals fighting in Libya and Sudan). However, people like the late Donald Rumsfeld (who was so fond of the term “enemy combatants”) would disagree. Not because such individuals don’t fit the criteria of “mercenaries” but simply because they are fighting for Israel (“the only democracy in the Middle East”). Apparently the Biden administration shares Rumsfeld’s notion because it has done nothing to stop its citizens from fighting and dying in Gaza (which is in fact illegal). [See Bruce Fein’s article this issue.]

WHO IS VOLUNTEERING?

According to a June 2022 study published in the Sociological Forum, historically, at least 1,200 U.S. citizens were serving in the IDF at any given time. After the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, some 10,000 people residing in the U.S. reported for Israeli military duty after receiving draft notices, according to a Nov. 27, 2023 Washington Post article. Jewish Americans as well as many who do not have any connection to Israel also joined Israel’s war effort. According to a Feb. 22, 2024 article published in the Washington Post, the IDF estimated 23,380 American citizens currently serve in Israeli ranks. By January, 21 Americans were killed while fighting in IDF units inside Gaza and another was killed on the border with Lebanon.

Over the last two decades some 3,500 foreigners have served in the ranks of IDF every year. Most of them are Jewish. Israel’s defense ministry announced in 2016 that the largest number of volunteers in that year were French (45 percent), American (29 percent) and British (5 percent). Militarily speaking, that is the equivalent of a full army brigade, which is usually made of anywhere between 3,000 and 5,000 members. After the Oct. 7 attack, the number of foreign volunteers is thought to have increased.

Volunteers from Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands and other European countries are also joining the IDF ranks. Last October Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said that there were some 18,000 Italian nationals living and working in Israel when the Gaza war started, among them 1,000 in the IDF performing different tasks including active combat.

Under the freedom of information act,  Rishi Sunak’s government was forced to release those details after previously denying the government keeps track of the numbers of UK citizens fighting with the IDF or living in settlements. UK officials believe that some 100 British citizens are serving in the ranks of IDF. By late March 2024 two British soldiers are known to have died in combat in Gaza. According to data released by London’s Foreign Office, before Oct. 7 only 80 British citizens were serving in the IDF in any given month. The data revealed that anywhere between 20 and 30 British nationals are living in illegal settlements in the West Bank. That’s not much compared to 60,000 Americans estimated to be living there.

South Africans are also known to have joined the IDF in the past and now in the Gaza war, prompting Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor to threaten them with prosecution upon returning home. Apparently Pandor is personally annoyed by fellow citizens joining a war she believes is genocidal. She led the South African team making the case against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

In France a leftist member of parliament, Thomas Portes, wrote to the country’s justice minister last December asking him to investigate some 4,185 French citizens said to be committing war crimes in Gaza. Most of them are believed to be dual nationals of both France and Israel. Three months later the ministry said it will not investigate. Why? Because “dual citizenship implies dual loyalty,” according to a ministry spokesman.

More …