Today the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is considered one of the most efficient in the world. Such a high efficiency is accompanied by a number of factors: ideological motivation (how else, when the country is surrounded by enemies?), And excellent weapons, and a good level of training, and a humane attitude towards personnel, be they officers or privates.
In Israel, serving in the army is truly an honorable duty, even extending to girls. Of course, the overwhelming majority of IDF servicemen are ethnic Jews and their descendants - Israelis, returnees and children of returnees.
But they are serving in the Israel Defense Forces and persons of non-Jewish nationality, and we are not talking about relatives of Jews, but about local residents. There are even entire non-Jewish units that, nevertheless, covered themselves with glory on the battlefields during the many Arab-Israeli wars of the twentieth century. Druze, Circassians, Bedouins - these are the three main non-Jewish peoples of Israel, professing Islam, but serving in the Israel Defense Forces and taking part in all armed conflicts with neighboring Arab countries on the side of the Jewish state.
Druze - Friends of Israel
One of the country's most friendly minorities (like neighboring Lebanon) is the Druze. It is more likely not a people, but an ethno-confessional community, whose identity is based on belonging to Druzism, an offshoot of Ismailism, one of the trends in Shiite Islam. Ethnically, the Druze are the same Arabs as their immediate neighbors, but centuries of closed life have turned them into a unique community with its own traditions, customs, and way of life.
The Druze clearly distinguish themselves from the rest of the Arab world. It is impossible to become a Druze, they need to be born. Like other similar groups, for example, the Yezidis, a Druze is considered one whose both parents are Druze, and who has not moved away from his traditional religion - Druzism. Now there are more than 1.5 million Druze in the world, of which most live in Syria (about 900 thousand people), in second place in terms of the size of the community is Lebanon (280 thousand people). More than 118 thousand Druze live in Israel.
Back in 1928, when relations between Jews and Arabs became strained in Palestine, the Druze sided with the former. They understood perfectly well that nothing good awaited them in a purely Arab, Sunni state. Druze elders allowed Druze youth to volunteer for the Haganah, a Jewish militia. Therefore, when the State of Israel was created, the question of Druze service in the Israeli army was not even raised. Druze volunteers served in the IDF from the very beginning of Israel's existence, and in 1957, service in the Israeli army became compulsory for all Druze men who reached the age of 18 and were medically fit for military service.
In the late 1940s, on the initiative of the then Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, General Ygael Yadin, a Druze battalion was formed. However, in 1950, the country's authorities tried to disband it due to financial difficulties, but faced opposition from the military.
The battalion fighters took part in all the wars of Israel. From the beginning of the 1960s, the Druze began to take on officer courses. Soon the first officers appeared - the Druze. In 1985, the motorized infantry battalion received the name "Kherev". Since that time, it is known as the "Herev" battalion or the Druz battalion. It is here that the bulk of the Druze conscripts dreams of serving, although, of course, not all are fit for health reasons to serve in this elite unit of the Israeli army.
Kherev is a motorized infantry battalion, but its servicemen have parachute training. Among the officers of the battalion there are not only Druze, but also Jews from among the officers-paratroopers. Many soldiers of the Druze battalion died during various wars. Among the dead was one of the battalion commanders, Colonel Navi Marai (1954-1996), who by the time of his death was already serving as the commander of the Katif brigade. Navi Marai, a Druze by nationality, served in the Israeli army since the age of 18, since 1972, graduated from the officer's courses, In 1987-1989. he commanded the Herev battalion.
The first Druze began his service in the "Herev" battalion, who rose to the rank of general in the Israeli army. Major General Youssef Mishleb, 2001-2003 headed the IDF Logistics Command, began his service as a private paratrooper in the Kherev battalion, then rose to the rank of platoon, company commander, and in 1980-1982. was the battalion commander. Then Micheleb commanded brigades, a division, a military district, making a dizzying career for a non-Jew in the Israel Defense Forces.
Now you will not surprise anyone with a Druze - a colonel or a brigadier general of the IDF. Moreover, Druze serve mainly in combat units - in parachute units, in military intelligence, which is explained by their long military traditions, good physical fitness and, as a rule, good health. Thus, Druze officers commanded such famous units of the Israeli army as the Edom and Ha-Galil divisions, the Givati, Golani, Katif brigades, and so on. In 2018, Druze Brigadier General Rasan Alian, the former commander of the Golani Brigade, was appointed Chief of Staff of the Central Military District of the IDF.
Bedouins - desert rangers of the IDF
Another isolated group of the Arab population of Israel, which is on good terms with the Jews, are the Bedouins. They have long been in conflict with the sedentary Arab population, but until the second half of the 1940s they also raided Jewish settlements. The situation began to change when the Haganah began to crowd out the Arabs. Impressed by the success of the Jews, the Bedouin elders changed their position. In 1946, the sheikh of the tribe al-Heyb Hussein Mohammed Ali Abu Youssef sent 60 young people to the Haganah.
Since the early 1950s, Bedouins have volunteered for the Israeli army, border troops, and police. The innate skills of desert rangers and guides make them indispensable during patrol and reconnaissance operations. True, sometimes the command still does not trust the Bedouins - this happens when the authorities conduct operations against smugglers - representatives of the Bedouin tribes. After all, service is a service, and family ties are still above all for the Bedouins. But with regard to wars and anti-terrorist operations, the Bedouins have long established themselves from the best side.
The name of Amos Yarkoni is inscribed in the history of the IDF and Israel in golden letters. In fact, his name was Abed Al-Majid Khader (1920-1991). A Bedouin Arab, Khader in his youth joined the Arab formations, but then went over to the side of the "Haganah". In 1953, he became the first Bedouin to complete an officer's course and receive an officer's rank in the Israeli army.
In 1959, due to injury, Amos Yarkoni's right arm was amputated, but he continued to serve with a prosthesis, and he still served in combat units. In the 1960s, he commanded the Sayeret Shaked special unit, rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Israeli army, and was the governor of the central part of the Sinai Peninsula.
The Israeli army also has a special Bedouin unit - the 585th battalion "Gdud-Siyur Midbari", also known as the "Gadsar Bedoui" battalion. This is an infantry formation of the Southern Military District, operationally subordinate to the Gaza division. Popularly, the battalion is also called the Bedouin Pathfinder Battalion. Its main task is to protect the border between Israel and Egypt in the Sinai Peninsula, where the battalion's servicemen carry out patrols and conduct operations against border trespassers.
Currently, the Bedouin battalion is considered one of the most effective and efficient units. His soldiers wear purple berets. Service in the battalion is viewed by many Bedouins as a springboard to building a successful career, be it military or civilian. By the way, there are only three officers in the battalion - Jews, the rest of the servicemen are represented exclusively by Bedouins.
Caucasian knights of the "Promised Land"
In the Middle East - in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel are no exception - any people from the North Caucasus are called Circassians, be they not only Circassians, but also Chechens, Ingush, representatives of the Dagestani peoples. Impressive Circassian communities were formed in Palestine in the 19th century, when it was part of the Ottoman Empire. Muhajirs moved here from the North Caucasus - those who did not want to swear allegiance to the Russian Empire. For almost two centuries of living in the Middle East, the Circassians have not lost their identity, but have made a huge contribution to the political history of a number of countries.
Despite the fact that the Circassians are Sunni Muslims, they immediately established good relations with the Jewish population of Palestine. When in the 1930s there was a large-scale emigration to Palestine, the Circassians welcomed it, helped the Jews in every possible way, and from the very beginning took their side in the Arab-Israeli conflicts. In the late 1940s, a separate cavalry squadron was formed from the Circassians of Kfar Kama and Rihania, which carried out the assignments of the Israeli command and participated in the War of Independence.
Perhaps the Circassians were driven by an elementary sympathy for the Jews as people who returned to their land and began a struggle to create their own state against the superior forces of the Arabs. In any case, since the late 1940s, the Israeli Circassians have never betrayed their state. Now many Circassians serve in the Israel Defense Forces, in the border troops and the police, and are promoted to officer ranks up to colonel.
Like the Druze, Circassians are drafted into the Israel Defense Forces on a general basis. But the call, unlike the Jews, applies only to young men. Nevertheless, Circassian women often voluntarily enter military service.
So, one of the most famous Israeli intelligence officers was Amina al-Mufti. She was born back in 1935 on the territory of modern Jordan, into a wealthy Circassian family, received a medical education. And then there was a long service in the Mossad, work in Lebanon, failure and five years in prison. Only in 1980 did the Israeli government manage to get al-Mufti out of the dungeons. After rehabilitation in hospitals, the woman returned to her main occupation - she became a doctor.
Christians in the Israeli army
About a fifth of the IDF non-Jewish servicemen are Israeli Christians: Arabs, Greeks, Armenians. At one time, Israel provided serious assistance to the Christian Maronites of southern Lebanon, and after the activation of terrorist fighters in the Middle East, Christians perceive Israel as their natural ally.
The bulk of the Israel Defense Forces Christians are Arab Christians. They serve in various units, including military ones. Gabriel Nadaf, a priest of the Greek Orthodox Church in Nazareth, created a public organization back in 2012, campaigning for Christian youth in Israel to serve in the IDF.
It should be noted that this is not an easy task, since many Christian Arabs at one time sympathized with the Palestinian movement. For example, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Georges Habbash, was a Christian. Therefore, attracting Christians into the ranks of the Israeli army was even more difficult than attracting Muslims: Druze, Circassians or Bedouins.
