UZBEKISTAN

• In Israel’s single largest casualty event since the Gaza invasion began in October 2023, 21 Israeli soldiers were killed in an explosion on Jan. 22, 2024.
• 1st Class Cedrick Garin, a 23-year-old Filipino-Israeli whose mother came to the country to work before he was born.
• Hamas’ roughly 240 hostages, for example, were nationals of 25 different countries, including Thailand, Nepal, the Philippines and Tanzania.
• Hamas kidnapped Muslim citizens of Israel alongside Jewish Israelis, Americans and other dual nationals.

Israel’s diversity

• Much smaller groups of Israeli Jews were born in Africa and Asia, in countries including India and Uzbekistan.
• Roughly 20% of Israelis are Arab, including Muslims, Christians and Druze, a group of people who observe a distinct monotheistic religion.
• Another 5% of Israeli residents are neither Jewish nor Arab, including more than 25,000 African migrants who live in Israel.

Military service requirements

• Israel has different rules for military service for its citizens, depending on their background.
• Every Israeli citizen over the age of 18 who is Jewish, Druze or Circassian must serve in the military, unless they are religiously observant and/or married when conscripted.
• Mandatory service brings together Israelis of all backgrounds, forces them to work together and instills a sense of obligation to the broader society.

Minorities in Israel

• Abu Latif, who was called up as a reserve soldier, was killed in the Jan. 22, 2024, blast in Gaza.
• The vast majority of the 370,000 Bedouins in Israel are citizens and identify as Muslim.
• Unlike Jewish Israelis and Druze men who are required to serve in the Israel Defense Forces, Bedouins volunteer.
• In 2020, a record number of 600 Bedouins joined the Israel military.
• Another minority group in Israel, the Druze people, have a long history of Israeli military service.

Jewish minorities

• Even the deaths of Jewish soldiers reflect the complexity of Israeli society.
• In all, Jewish soldiers killed in the conflict have ties to at least 12 countries other than Israel.
• Soldiers killed in Gaza include Staff Sgt.

Equal in war?

• This exempts ultra-Orthodox Jews, who make up approximately 13% of the country, from military service.
• Women as well as men studying at a yeshiva, a Jewish religious college, are excused from service so they can follow strict religious observances and study religious texts.
• In August 2023, only 9% of eligible ultra-Orthodox men served in the military, compared with an 80% national average among other Jewish Israelis.

Jessica Trisko Darden is Director of the (In)Security Lab at Virginia Commonwealth University and Director of the Security & Foreign Policy Initiative at William & Mary's Global Research Institute.