Another major difference is that, unlike the vast majority of
Under Israeli law, only men are drafted from the less numerous Druze and Circassians, whereas Jewish women are also required to serve alongside Jewish men. Muslim and Christian Arab citizens of Israel (both genders) may enlist voluntarily, but they have never been conscripted by law.
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More than 1,000 Israeli Arabs have volunteered to serve in the IDF as conscripts or reservists in the past year, and most after the coronavirus crisis began in March, the military's Manpower Directorate said Sunday.
Arab citizens of Israel (who make up a little under one-fifth of the country's population) are also exempted from military service; this exemption does not originate via Israeli statutory law, but rather is based on IDF Human Resource Department guidelines, issued under the IDF's discretionary powers pursuant to the ...
The Arab–Israeli alliance, sometimes called the Israeli–Sunni alliance, refers to an unofficial security coalition comprising Israel and various Arab countries.
Twenty per cent of Israel's population is Arab but only about 1% of them serve in the army. Enlisting is controversial in many of their communities.
Muslim Bedouins
Many Negev Bedouins serve in the Israel Defense Forces. Each year, between 5%–10% of the Bedouin of draft age volunteer for the IDF (unlike Druze and Jewish Israelis, they are not required by law to do so).
IDF recruitment of foreign citizens is possible via the Volunteers from Abroad (Mahal) track for Jews living abroad. However, in recent years, additional enlistment tracks have been established for foreign citizens who are not Jewish. One prominent example is the IDF enlistment track for great-granchildren of Jews.
Arabic courses are widespread in the Israel Defense Forces, where all soldiers are required to learn how to de-escalate potential terror attacks in both Hebrew and Arabic.
Peace between Egypt and Israel has lasted for more than forty years and Egypt has become an important strategic partner of Israel.
Unfortunately, Israeli citizens are not allowed to enter the country. Additionally, admission is refused to holders of passports or travel documents containing an Israeli visa or stamp or any data showing that visitor has been to Israel or indication of any connection with the state of Israel.
Thirteen countries do not accept Israeli passports: Algeria, Bangladesh, Brunei, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen.
The Israeli military ranks 18th among 145 considered nations on a list of the world's mightiest armed forces according to the 2023 GlobalFirepower (GFP) index.
Muslim scholars have proclaimed ritual prayer, ṣalāt, as the main pillar of the Islamic faith. The Qur'ān enjoins the performance of prayers even during military operations (Q 4:102), albeit in a modified way.
Regular service
National military service is mandatory for all Israeli citizens over the age of 18, although Arab (but not Druze) citizens are exempted if they so please, and other exceptions may be made on religious, physical or psychological grounds (see Profile 21).
Currently the only active foreign military installations on Israeli soil are American bases, including an AN/TPY-2 early missile warning radar station on Mt. Keren.
A smaller number of them have also signed a public letter in which they state their intent to refuse any service in the army. Such a behaviour has usually resulted in repeated jail sentences of several weeks. One of the most prominent Shiministim that went to jail is Omer Goldman.
Privately owned land – The laws which apply to this type of property are much less restrictive than those which apply to state-owned land. Generally, private property owners can sell the property to others, regardless of whether they are Israeli citizens or foreign citizens, Jewish or non-Jewish.
Islam is the second-largest religion in Israel, constituting 1.707 million and around 18.1% of the country's population as of 2022. The ethnic Arab citizens of Israel make up the majority of its Muslim population, making them the largest minority group in Israel. Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine in Jerusalem.
Even in the wake of Operation Guardian of the Walls and the violent rioting in mixed cities and other towns, the IDF presented encouraging statistics that show a sharp rise in the number of Muslims drafting to the IDF. Some 606 Muslim Arabs drafted to the IDF in 2020, compared to 489 in 2019 and 436 in 2018.
Some Muslims also serve in the Israel Defense Forces; approximately 1,700 Muslims served in 2015, mostly from Bedouin tribes. Most of Israel's Muslim citizens, some 69 percent, live in the northern part of the country, i.e. the Galilee and Haifa.
The nomads of Arabia have been spreading through the desert fringes of the Fertile Crescent since at least 3000 BCE, but the first known reference to the Arabs as a distinct group is from an Assyrian scribe recording a battle in 853 BCE.
Arabic. Arabic is the second official language of Israel. It is spoken by 20% of the total population of Israel which includes Arab citizens of Israel and Jewish people from the Arab world. There is an important dialect of the Arab language which is called Levantine Arabic and it is spoken by many Israeli Arabs.
East Jerusalem, once administered by Jordan, came under Israeli occupation after the 1967 Six-Day War. In the Palestinian territories, c. 86% of the population is Arab (predominantly Sunni), c.