The Israel Defense Force has a new auxilliary composed of hundreds of recent immigrants who perform non-military tasks that ordinarily would have required calling up additional reserve soldiers, it was disclosed today.
The project is sponsored jointly by the World Zionist Organization and the IDF central command. The immigrants, residents of absorption centers all over the country, volunteer their time. This week a group of 60 new immigrants from North and South America, Europe and Ethiopia were engaged in fortification projects and at IDF outposts in the Jordan Valley.
Men and women up to the age of 60 are accepted as volunteers. On arrival at military posts they are issued IDF uniforms and are briefed on the military situation in the area. They sleep in tents in a special section and eat with soldiers at the regular mess. According to the army, the immigrant volunteers have already saved the IDF hundreds of man-hours of work.
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