Israel’s Largest Recruitment Ever Includes Olim, 100 Christian Arabs

Some 100 Christian Arabs have volunteered for regular service in the Israel Defense Force within the past week, according to military sources.

The new recruits, who were inducted Tuesday, responded to a recently enacted IDF policy that Christian Arabs can choose to serve in the Israeli army.

They joined during the summer recruitment period.

The new soldiers boost to 300 the number of Christians now serving in the army, the sources said.

Until the new policy went into effect, the only Arabs allowed to serve in the Israeli army were Bedouins, who normally are engaged as expert trackers, and Druse. A tenet of the Druse religion, which split from Islam centuries ago, is fealty to the country of residence.

Israelis are granted substantial economic, pension and health benefits for army service, making it an attractive option.

Tuesday’s ceremony inducted the largest-ever number of new recruits. Included were more than 300 new immigrants from the Soviet Union and 150 from Ethiopia, countries from which Jews have recently come in tremendous numbers to the Jewish state.

Col. Natan Rosenbaum, the IDF’s chief draft administrator, said that 15 percent of the new immigrants will serve abbreviated periods between a year and a year-and-a-half, 28 percent will be sent to complete their academic studies and 57 percent will join the military system.

Rosenbaum indicated this group of inductees is of particularly fine mettle, attested to by a considerable number of volunteers for elite positions. He said some 20 applicants are vying for each spot in the IDF’s reconnaissance units, more than 87 percent of whom are high school graduates.

The commander of the induction center, Col. Moti Shapira, said the IDF integrates new immigrants into combat units as much as possible.