Arab IDF soldier: 'I love this country and want to contribute'

[DavidSling]

Out of the 175,000 active IDF soldiers are several hundred Arab Israelis who have chosen to serve.

A battalion of soldiers crawls across the desert sand with assault rifles cocked. It's a routine exercise, but these are no ordinary troops - they are Arabs who have chosen to fight for the Jewish state.

While the vast majority of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are Jews - and nearly all their conflicts have been against Arab nations - a trickle of Israeli Arabs volunteer for the army.

Most are Beduin, a community native to southern Israel. But some are other Arab citizens of Israel, the descendants of Arabs who remained in Israel during and after the 1948 War of Independence.

"Why did I decide to enlist?" asks Sergeant Yusef Salutta, a 20-year-old Arab from the north of Israel who serves with the Desert Reconnaissance Battalion. The army rarely grants journalists access to the unit.

"Because I'm from this country and I love the country and I want to contribute," he said. "Everyone should enlist, anybody who lives here should enlist."

The military conscripts young Jewish men and women, but not Arabs. It does not report exact numbers of Arab volunteers, but officials say there are several hundred among the 175,000 active personnel.

A silver Star of David necklace hung around Salutta's neck, and he chatted with fellow-soldiers in Hebrew.

Still, some Israeli Arabs see volunteering for the military as betrayal.

"This phenomenon, we totally reject it," said Ahmad Tibi, an Israeli-Arab member of parliament.

"What could go through a person's mind when he serves against his people? We try to educate people that this is not the way."

Volunteers say their families are supportive, and that they are prepared to take criticism.

"I don't care about them," said Salutta. "I need to be part of the country, to be like everybody else."

His friend, 20 year old Sergeant Saleh Khalil, also from a village up north, said his contribution to the army may help his future.

"I enlisted in order to contribute to the country, because I live in this country. The country helps us and I will have a good future," Khalil said.

The head of the IDF Minorities Unit, Colonel Wajdi Sarhan, said some Israeli-Arabs saw service as a way to improve their chances in life.

"(It) can get easier when you hold an Israeli soldier or reservist ID card," said Sarhan. "To be a soldier in the army, it's actually an identity certificate of Israeli-ness, which can help integration."

He said some recruits faced threats and harassment at home from fellow Israeli-Arabs. In some cases, they are allowed to travel to and from military duty out of uniform.

When it comes to Israel's decades-old conflict with Palestinians, there is no question - if they are required to fight, they must.
"Anyone who decided to be a combat soldier in such a unit took this into consideration in advance," said Sarhan.

http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/A-look-at-Israeli-Arabs-in-the-IDF-474592

@Archdemon @Natan @Solomon2 @500 @mike2000 is back

 

[Flash_Ninja]

A silver Star of David necklace hung around Salutta's neck, and he chatted with fellow-soldiers in Hebrew.

meaning he's an Arab Jew? Is it really that much of a surprise then?

 

[Solomon2]

meaning he's an Arab Jew? Is it really that much of a surprise then?

You have no such comfort. These are Arabs - Muslims, Christians, and some adherents of other religions - who see the righteousness of Israel's cause and choose to fight for the State of Israel.

 

[Flash_Ninja]

You have no such comfort. These are Arabs - Muslims, Christians, and some adherents of other religions - who see the righteousness of Israel's cause and choose to fight for the State of Israel.

Why wear a Star of David necklace? Muslims in western armies don't wear the cross.

logically he must be Jewish, since only a Jewish person would be wearing the Star of David on a piece of jewellery.

 

[19887]

Why wear a Star of David necklace? Muslims in western armies don't wear the cross.

logically he must be Jewish, since only a Jewish person would be wearing the Star of David on a piece of jewellery.

It's a statement that he is identify with the country by wearing one of the country's symbols.
Not long ago, in a druze-arab village was a serious battle including shots and grenades because the druze put star of david necklace around the neck and arabs were upset, the druze broke their bones.

 

[Al-Andalus]

Good for him. What are we supposed to say?

Estranged cousins working with each other, lol.

 

[haviZsultan]

You have no such comfort. These are Arabs - Muslims, Christians, and some adherents of other religions - who see the righteousness of Israel's cause and choose to fight for the State of Israel.

If so called muslims are joining Israel in the army what do you think about the much larger jewish demographic which is joining the Palestinian cause. The muslims are joining Israel out of the moral superiority of Israel and the larger number of Israeli and other Jews are joining Palestinians out of something else. The Israeli position and your position is bereft of any moral high ground. You and your tyrant country America is the father of all evils. If westerners were committed to the Jewish cause they wouldn't have killed 70% of all Jews on the planet and to repay jews with commitment have built an Israel on your western land.

https://www.thenation.com/article/d...s-in-nonviolent-resistance-to-the-occupation/

 

[Solomon2]

If so called muslims are joining Israel in the army what do you think about -

Separate topic, separate thread.

 

[Desertfalcon]

only a Jewish person would be wearing the Star of David on a piece of jewellery.

It's become very popular to wear among evangelical, protestant Christians.

 

[Al-Andalus]

Good for him. What are we supposed to say?

Estranged cousins working with each other for a change, lol.

 

[Timur]

logically he must be Jewish, since only a Jewish person would be wearing the Star of David on a piece of jewellery.

maybe but not for the star of sulayman

 

[Natan]

Why wear a Star of David necklace? Muslims in western armies don't wear the cross.

A person with a cross necklace is a christian, but a person with a six pointed star necklace could be anyone.
Star of David necklace doesn't make a Jew, just like crescent necklace doesn't make a Muslim.

 

[Solomon2]

Arab Israelis Are Joining the IDF in Growing Numbers: Officials
by PAUL GOLDMAN

KISSUFIM CROSSING, Israel — The Star of David is the best-known symbol of Jewish identity and of patriotism for the state of Israel.

So it may come as a surprise that a six-pointed star hangs around the neck of Sgt. Yossef Saluta, a Muslim Arab.


Sgt. Yossef Saluta David Copeland / NBC News
The 20-year-old poses proudly wearing the necklace and his Israeli army uniform, a rifle slung over his shoulder. He is among a tiny but growing number of Arab Israelis to defy tradition — and often their communities — to serve in the Israeli military.

"There is more openness among Arab Muslims that are not Bedouins to volunteer and join the army," according to Col. Wagdi Sarhan, the head of the minorities unit in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). "We're talking about recruitment of dozens of Arab Muslim youth and we are hopeful that the numbers will grow."

Four years ago, the number of Arab Israelis who volunteered for military service was under 10. Today it stands in the dozens, according to Sarhan.

National service is compulsory in Israel, with some exemptions — three years for men and two years for women. This rule also applies to the country's non-Jewish Druze and Circassian communities.

Muslim Bedouins, who tend to identify more as Israeli than other Arabs, and Christian Arabs can voluntarily sign up and each minority is represented by a couple of hundred members of the armed forces.


Israeli soldiers patrol on the West Bank village of Arura in June 2014. Mohamad Torokman / Reuters
However, Muslim Arab Israelis have traditionally seen the military as a tool to oppress fellow Arab Palestinians in the West Bank — which Israel captured in 1967 and still occupies — and often avoid military service.

But Saluta does not see it this way — and neither does his family.

"This is my country and it's my duty to protect its borders," he said. "When I told my family I want to serve, they backed me up."

He admits that his friends gave him "a strange look" when he first made the decision. "But after I told them about my experiences in the army they were convinced to also join."

Saluta's view is not widely shared among Arab Israelis, who make up around one-fifth of Israel's population.


Sgt. Salah Halil (center) with other Arab members of his unit. David Copeland / NBC News

"I want to finish my three-year army duty and hope to become a policeman," said the 20-year-old from the Arab village of Judeida Makr in the north of the country.

According to Sarhan, recruitment is growing because of widespread despondency among Arabs. Serving will help them find a purpose and boost confidence, he said.

"The army is a great platform to strengthen the bond between the Arab population to Israeli society," Sarhan added. "We understand that by serving in the army they will become more connected and more positive towards the state."

Saluta and Halil took their oath to the state while holding the Quran, rather than the Bible as Jewish soldiers do.

But serving in the armed forces doesn't come without hardship and the first few months in are not always easy for the new recruits.

"Suddenly they meet different Israelis who don't always treat everyone equally, so sometimes they feel like they are looked upon differently," Sarhan said.


Sgt. Saleh Halil serves in the Givati Brigade, an amphibious force of the IDF. David Copeland / NBC News
The other major difficulty these soldiers face comes from how their own communities treat them. It is not easy for these youngsters to be seen wearing a soldier's uniform.

"After basic training I served in Jenin and worked closely with Palestinians," said Halil, referring to a Palestinian city in the West Bank. "You can imagine how surprised they were when I spoke Arabic with them."

But this experience did not dampen his enthusiasm for being a soldier. On a recent evening on a base only a mile away from the Hamas-held enclave of Gaza, Halil took a break from his duties patrolling the border to speak to NBC News.

"It doesn't matter if you are Muslim, Jewish or Christian," he said. "We're all the same with one helping the other."

 

[NakedLunch]

There were Jews in the Wehrmacht too. Scum ends up everywhere.

 

[hussain0216]

"Dozens" from a population of over 1.5 million is terrible


Israel could draft the arabs but then the israelis would know that there would be alot of dead israelis when the drafted arab soldiers will turn their guns on their occupier