The Israel Defense Forces have more than 7,000 “lone soldiers”, or lone soldiers. These soldiers, who left countries like Canada or the United States to settle in the Jewish state, are “very motivated” to fight, according to the Lone Soldier Center organization. Sometimes more than their Israeli-born counterparts.
Lone soldiers are foreign-born fighters — some may have dual nationality — who have no immediate family in Israel. Others were born in Israel but fight without their family’s approval.
Like most of the lone soldiers he met, Maxwell Berger, a 28-year-old Canadian-Israeli, “went there to [s]’enlist in the army’. “The Israelis don’t want to fight. […] The lone soldiers want to go there and help. »
Returning to Toronto after doing his military service in Israel, he tried in vain last October to re-enlist. “The army told me to stay in Canada. […] She didn’t need me. ” Maxwell has since resigned himself, but “it’s very hard to see all this on television”, he laments, convinced that five of his friends died at the start of the conflict.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a fiercer desire [de combattre]but perhaps a stronger appreciation of [la patrie] that we are given,” says Yael Halevi-Wise, associate professor in the Jewish studies program at McGill University.
Despite the conflict, Mme Halevi-Wise remained in Israel, where she settled for her gap year. One of his sons, who was to finish his military service there, must continue to serve in the army due to the conflict. Also considered a solitary soldier, he “hates the army and is counting the days before he can get out,” says his mother, who also had to do his military service. “But he has to make his contribution. »
An “idealistic” vision of Israel
Depicted as “model citizens”, they receive additional funds to compensate for the help that the family cannot provide them. Since October, hundreds of Israelis, civilians and combatants alike, have traveled to attend the funerals of lone soldiers.
From 2016 to 2017, University of California San Diego doctoral candidate in sociology Karina Shklyan conducted interviews with around fifty American lone soldiers. She explains that the latter, over the years, develop the “feeling of living in exile, that there is a homeland [juive] elsewhere “. They want to take part in the “nation-building process”, which involves compulsory military service.
While she does not claim that lone soldiers are more motivated to fight, she does point out that many decide to move at an age when they know that military service is still required.
“Several interviewees described feeling like their fellow Israelis were less enthusiastic and less passionate about this experience and engagement [que les soldats solitaires] “, she says.
Their “idealistic” vision of Israel can sometimes change once on the ground. “I didn’t feel like I was protecting the Jews. I had the impression of protecting a system, sometimes, of oppression,” said one of the soldiers interviewed by M.me Shklyan.
“Nearly half of lone soldiers leave Israel after the end of their military service,” the study reads.