Islam in Israel

3 weeks ago - Muslims comprise 18.1% of the Israeli population as of 2022. The majority of Muslims in Israel are Sunni Arabs, with an Ahmadiyya minority. The Bedouin in Israel are also Arab Muslims, with some Bedouin clans participating in the Israeli army. The small Circassian community is composed of Sunni ...

Answer (1 of 2): Just over 20% ... an article by the BBC in 2016, “Twenty per cent of Israel's population is Arab but only about 1% of them serve in the army....

November 8, 2016 - "Our mission is to enlist as many as we can," says Col Wajdi Sarhan, head of the IDF Minorities Unit. "We have a few hundred and we want to double that in the next year." ... Twenty per cent of Israel's population is Arab but only about 1% of them ...

Ala Wahib: ""From the age of zero ... village of Reineh in the Galillee, which currently houses some 17,000 residents, more than 80 percent of whom are Muslim....

November 3, 2023 - Let’s take a look at how Arab and Bedouin are serving in Israel’s army: By the numbers First, let’s briefly examine some statistics. According to Jerusalem Post, 606 Arab Muslims joined the IDF in 2020.

The IDF has seen a large increase in the number of Muslims drafting to the IDF and a decrease in those finishing their service early.

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Although Jews are the majority of the population, according to Israel government data, 21.1% of the country's population is Arab (mostly Muslim, but there are also Christian Arabs) and there are 5% of non-Arab Christians and people with no known ...

Answer (1 of 15): Yes, there are. Here's wiki: Muslim supporters of Israel And here's something more personal: IDF honors female Muslim soldier You should know, that not all Muslims in Israel are Arabs. There are spouses/kids/grandkids of returnees from Muslim republics of what used to be the Sov...

1 week ago - Other Arab-Muslim officers who have served in the IDF are Second Lieutenant Hisham Abu Varia and Major Ala Wahib, the highest ranking Muslim officer in the IDF in 2013. In October 2012, the IDF promoted Mona Abdo to become the first female Christian Arab to the rank of combat commander. Abdo had voluntarily enlisted in the IDF, which her family had encouraged, and transferred from the Ordnance Corps to the Caracal Battalion, a mixed-gender unit with both Jewish and Arab soldiers. In 2014, an increase in Israeli Christian Arabs joining the army was reported.

September 9, 2024 - In June 2022, Abu Raya was involved in the organization of the first Gadna, a one-week preparatory program for incoming recruits, for Muslim youth. Abu Raya estimated today that there are “a few hundred” soldiers from the community enlisted in the IDF, adding that the ranks are growing. The IDF could not provide The Times of Israel with exact figures. “If you want to advance in Israeli society and feel equal, army service is your entry ticket.

December 1, 2024 - It was commissioned by BBC Arabic, and the presence of Arab soldiers in the IDF has caused some controversy. According to the documentary, there were ten times as many Israeli Arabs - Muslims and Christians - joining the IDF in 2016 compared to 2013.

Druze – IDF’s Highest Enlistment in Entire Israel · The Druze, an Arabic-speaking minority of about 150,000, roughly 2% of Israel’s population, mostly live in the northern regions of the Galilee, Carmel and the Golan Heights.

February 26, 2017 - Yossef Saluta, a Muslim Arab. Sgt. Yossef Saluta David Copeland / NBC News · The 20-year-old poses proudly wearing the necklace and his Israeli army uniform, a rifle slung over his shoulder. He is among a tiny but growing number of Arab Israelis to defy tradition — and often their communities — to serve in the Israeli military.

The State of Israel requires every Israeli citizen over the age of 18 who is Jewish, Druze or Circassian to serve in the Israel Defense Forces (although there are some notable exceptions). Other Israeli Arabs, religious women, married individuals, and those deemed unfit medically or mentally are exempt from compulsory military service.

June 6, 2019 - Second, that its army defends this racist status with acts of illegal and immoral violence. And third, that the only solution to this problem is through the isolation tactics of boycotts. Like many I met during my visit, I oppose these views. But perhaps more than most people on either side of the debate, I am better placed to argue against them. Because I am an Israeli, an Arab, and the highest ranked Muslim in the IDF.

June 24, 2024 - Ever since, there has been a surge in voluntary army enlistment from within Israel’s Bedouin community, some 400,000 people—roughly 4 percent of the country’s total population...

April 29, 2025 - However, not only Jews serve in the Israeli Army! While Jewish Israelis make up the bulk of enlisted soldiers, young Israeli Druze and Circassians are regularly drafted as well. Israeli citizens who are members of other religious or ethnic minorities are usually exempt from military service, but increasing numbers have been choosing to volunteer over the past decade – such as Israeli Muslims and Christians from the Arab community.

July 26, 2024 - In addition to the Bedouin majority, the battalion also includes Jewish, Arab Israeli, and Christian soldiers. In conversations with the Muslim soldiers, it became clear that the horrific actions of Hamas on October 7 and beyond are antithetical to the values of Islam that they hold dear.

October 1, 2023 - The bedouins generally tend to not care too much, but this time around Hamas killed bedouins, so the bedouins also want revenge. Some bedouins serve in the IDF, but not many. Normal muslim Israeli arabs (often called “48 palestinians”) hold ...