'Israel' may turn to diaspora as military struggles with manpower
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Marked by mass draft-dodging, suicides, and desertions, "Israel's" deepening military crisis has pushed it to seek recruits from its diaspora in the US and France, exposing both its desperation and growing global backlash.
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Israeli soldiers uses binoculars to look at damaged buildings in the Gaza Strip, from southern occupied Palestine, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
"Israel's" ongoing wars and its brutal campaign in Gaza have left its military ranks depleted, forcing the army to turn outward in a bid to fill the gap. Israeli Army Radio revealed that officials are weighing a plan to enlist 600 to 700 Jews each year from abroad, with the United States and France identified as the primary targets.
According to ZeroHedge, currently, around 3,500 diaspora Jews are serving in the Israeli military, with nearly 900 Americans among them. These fighters are known as "lone soldiers."
According to Noya Govrin, Director of the Lone Soldiers Program at Nefesh b'Nefesh, "The majority of American lone soldiers are coming after high school, either directly after high school or after a gap year program. In the past two years, there has been a notable increase in college graduates that come to Israel to serve as lone soldiers," she told the Times of Israel.
But resentment toward those who take part in "Israel's" war crimes is growing even inside the US. Earlier this month, an American who had returned from service in Gaza became the target of an arson attack in Missouri. His family's vehicles were torched and graffiti scrawled on the street branded him a murderer and read "DEATH TO THE IDF."
Picture from the scene in #Clayton, #Missouri shows death to IDF in graffiti next to bombed cars pic.twitter.com/UYBPqiXFtZ
— Hamdan News (@HamdanWahe57839) August 6, 2025
The army's deepening manpower crisis is stark, as officials admit to a shortfall of 10,000–12,000 troops. The reasons range from massive draft-dodging among the ultra-Orthodox, to mass resignations, to mental breakdowns. Since October 7, 2023, more than 3,700 Israeli soldiers have been diagnosed with PTSD, while 54 have taken their own lives, 16 of them this year alone.
Meanwhile, some 14,600 people are labeled deserters, most of them ultra-Orthodox draft-dodgers. To cover the cracks, the IOF is offering an amnesty scheme to coax them into service before Thursday, promising to spare them criminal charges.
Read more: 'Israel' launches Hasmonean Brigade to compensate for war losses
Draft dodger crisis
The Supreme Court's 2024 decision to end blanket exemptions for ultra-Orthodox conscription has only added to the turmoil. Netanyahu's fragile coalition hinges on Haredi parties that insist their followers continue to avoid combat and remain in seminaries. Haredim dedicate their lives to religious study in Yeshivas while drawing state stipends, a policy increasingly resented by other Israelis who are forced into "Israel's" wars across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran.
"Israel's" desperate recruitment push is also colliding with the growing anger among Jews abroad. As Rafael Shimunov, a New York host of a Jewish Left radio show, put it, "Awkward moment for some of my fellow Jews in the diaspora. Cheerleading Israelis sending their kids to do genocide, but will never send their own."
Despite mounting outrage, "Israel's" allies in Washington are attempting to shield the project. Legislators catering to "Israel" have even introduced a bill that would extend the privileges enjoyed by US service members to Americans who join the Israeli army, benefits not granted to anyone serving in any other foreign military.
