Americans in the Israel Defense Forces

The Israel Defense Forces has one of the highest rates of foreign-born soldiers of any military in the world, drawing immigrants and volunteers from across the Jewish diaspora and beyond.[1] Two broad pathways have historically brought Americans into IDF service. The first is the Machal framework — overseas volunteers who enlist for a defined period without necessarily making aliyah — which dates to the founding of the state. Americans who make aliyah may also enlist through regular IDF frameworks, including as lone soldiers.[2]

A lone soldier is an IDF service member without parents in Israel to provide support during military service.[3] Tel Aviv University estimates that approximately 6,300 lone soldiers serve in the IDF and that they come from more than 70 countries.[3] An IDF Manpower Directorate count recorded 6,260 lone soldiers in 2015, with 24 percent coming from the United States.[4] Of those lone soldiers, 48 percent served in homefront roles, 27 percent in combat units, and 25 percent in combat support.[4]

Organized programs have facilitated American enlistment at various points in history. In 2010, Aharon-Yosef Katsof, originally from Los Angeles, and Baruch Tretiak, originally from Kansas, co-founded Aish Machal, a project to bring young American Jews to Israel specifically to enlist.[5] The project received Defense Ministry authorization to open a Machal branch in February 2010.[5] A parallel civilian framework, Garin Tzabar, has also enabled Americans to join the IDF as a cohort: Edan Alexander, for example, joined Garin Tzabar and moved to a kibbutz with 16 other American graduates before beginning IDF training.[6] For veterans who completed their service, Aluf Stone was founded in 2008 as a gathering place for non-Israeli-born IDF veterans affiliated with the American Veterans of Israel.[7]

During Israel's War of Independence, foreign volunteers known as MACHAL served alongside Israeli forces. They included Jewish and non-Jewish veterans, many recently demobilized from the U.S. Armed Forces, who volunteered for ideological reasons or to help prevent another Holocaust.[8] One account states that 3,500 volunteers from 43 countries enlisted in 1948 and contributed military skills to the Haganah through a special unit called Mahal.[9] Estimates of the North American share vary by scope. One account places approximately 1,000 Americans and Canadians across the army, navy, and air force; another estimates fewer than 500 in the army, plus a similar number in the air force; and a third gives a best estimate of about 1,000 volunteers from the United States and 250 from Canada.[10] These figures use different populations and counting methods and should not be treated as a single agreed total.

Recruiting in the United States was clandestine, conducted in five or six major cities by an organization called Land and Labor for Palestine.[11] U.S. passports of the period carried a warning against travel to serve in a foreign armed force, and an account of the program states that Americans who served had their citizenship suspended for the duration of their service, with no rights as American citizens if captured.[11] Some volunteers had been students at Hebrew University; others were recruited in the United States and Canada; a few had volunteered while studying in Europe on the G.I. Bill.[12] Many were World War II veterans whose experience supplied skills in armor, artillery, medicine, nursing, and vehicle maintenance.[12]

Americans and Canadians served in virtually every unit of the Israeli army during the war.[12] A roster sourced from World Machal lists service across the Army, Air Force, Navy, Medical Corps, Palmach, General Headquarters, and Aliyah Bet.[13] Army volunteers included George Baalbeck in the 72nd Battalion infantry, Philip Balkin in the 89th Battalion commandos, and George Alper in the 79th Battalion armor.[13] Medical and support personnel included nurse Mary Berger, surgeon Dr. Leo Bornstein, and Dr. Matt Weiner, a medical officer and dentist with the 7th Brigade.[13] Americans also participated in Aliyah Bet, the clandestine immigration effort: William Bernstein served with the ship Exodus, James Biddle with the Jewish State, and Aaron Levin with several vessels.[13]

The roster marks with an asterisk those killed in action, including Stanley Andrews, Philip Balkin, Louis (Arye) Ball, William (Bill) Bernstein, David (Mickey) Marcus, Moshe Perlstein, and Robert Lester Vickman.[13] One account estimates that 17 Americans and five Canadians were killed in army combat, among approximately 40 Americans and Canadians killed across Aliyah Bet and all military branches.[12]

American volunteers played an outsized role in building and flying for Israel's nascent air force, which for a time operated with English as its de facto language.[8] Machal volunteers — drawn mainly from the United States, Canada, and South Africa — supplied the bulk of the pilots and crew for Israel's early air arm.[14]

Among the most consequential was Al Schwimmer, a Jewish New Yorker and World War II veteran who smuggled approximately 30 surplus planes to Israel and recruited American pilots and crew members.[15] After the war, he was indicted for violating the U.S. Neutrality Act and lost his citizenship. He remained in Israel and founded the company that became Israel Aerospace Industries.[15] Schwimmer also served as second in command of the Israeli air force during the war.[11]

American volunteers played central roles in 101 Squadron. Lou Lenart, a former U.S. Marine, led the Israeli Air Force's first combat mission on May 29, 1948, helping stop Egyptian forces less than 30 miles from Tel Aviv.[15] Gideon Lichtman, who had fought for the United States in the Pacific during World War II, was credited with the fledgling Israeli Air Force's first aerial kill of an enemy fighter.[16] Leon Frankel flew 25 missions in 101 Squadron, while Milton Rubenfeld flew on the day after Lenart's inaugural mission.[15] Stanley Andrews and Bob Vickman, both former U.S. Air Force personnel and UCLA art students, helped design the 101 Squadron insignia; both were later killed when their aircraft were shot down, in July and October 1948 respectively.[15] Other named American pilots who served in 1948 include Coleman Goldstein, George Lichter, Harold Livingston, and Smoky Simon.[15]

The Machal roster also records American air-force personnel in navigation, flight engineering, air gunnery, technical duties, intelligence, and ground support.[13] Ted Applebaum served as a pilot with the Air Transport Command and 106 Squadron; Rudy Augarten flew with 101 Squadron and the Air Transport Command.[13]

The most prominent American military figure in the War of Independence was David "Mickey" Marcus, a Brooklyn-born West Point graduate who had served as a combat colonel in the U.S. Army and as New York City's police commissioner.[12] Summoned to Mandatory Palestine before Israel's declaration of independence, Marcus worked under the name "Stone" to help transform the Haganah into a modern fighting force, writing Israel's first field manual and assisting with logistics.[12]

Marcus became the first person to hold the Israeli rank of aluf, or general.[11] He commanded construction of the Burma Road, intended to circumvent the siege of Jerusalem.[17] On June 11, 1948, he was mistakenly killed near Abu Ghosh by an Israeli sentry.[17] The veterans' organization Aluf Stone takes its name from his Israeli nom de guerre.[7]

Paul Shulman, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and American veteran of combat in the Pacific, served as commander of the Israeli Navy from 1948 through 1949.[8] He initially commanded a force of only three ships.[11] Shulman's Annapolis training provided the newly formed navy with professional American naval experience during the critical period of Israel's independence.

Yoni Netanyahu was born in New York and fought in the June 1967 war as part of his early IDF service.[18] In the early 1970s, he joined Sayeret Matkal, the IDF's elite commando unit, and distinguished himself as a hero of the 1973 war.[18] On July 4, 1976, Netanyahu commanded the raid on Entebbe, Uganda, in which Israeli commandos rescued passengers from a hijacked airliner.[18] He was killed while commanding the operation and became one of the most celebrated figures in Israeli military history.[18]

Alex Singer was born in White Plains, New York, in 1962 and first encountered Israel as a child when his family spent four years there.[19] After later making aliyah and volunteering as a lone soldier, a Jewish Review of Books account argues that he chose the paratroops at age 22 in part because he wanted to serve with other volunteers in what he regarded as the most active service, and because his brother was also in the paratroops.[19]

Singer served in the IDF from 1985 to 1987, completing officer training and serving as a platoon commander and infantry officer.[19] He initially trained defenders of air force bases but arranged a transfer to the Givati Brigade for an infantry role; he arrived in the Golan Heights in June 1987.[19] A few months later, on his twenty-fifth birthday, he was killed in a firefight in Southern Lebanon.[19]

Michael Levin was born and raised near Philadelphia and said at age 16 that he wanted to immigrate to Israel and join a front-line combat unit.[20] After visiting Israel in 2001, he immigrated in 2004 and joined an elite paratroopers unit.[20] On August 1, 2006, he was killed in clashes with Hezbollah in the southern Lebanese village of Aita al-Shaab and was buried at Mount Herzl.[20] He was the only American-Israeli soldier killed during the Second Lebanon War.[20] A visit to Levin's grave later helped inspire Max Steinberg to immigrate and enlist as a lone soldier.[21]

Two American lone soldiers were killed during Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014, drawing widespread attention to the phenomenon of diaspora volunteers serving in combat.

Nissim Sean Carmeli was born in 1993 and grew up in South Padre Island, Texas.[3] He served in the Golani Brigade's 13th Battalion and was killed during Operation Protective Edge on July 20, 2014.[3] He had hoped to pursue an undergraduate degree after his IDF service and to help other lone soldiers with the burdens of military life.[3] An estimate placed attendance at his funeral near Haifa at 20,000 people.[22]

Max Steinberg came to Israel from Los Angeles after visiting the country on a Birthright trip with his younger siblings. A visit to Michael Levin's grave at Mount Herzl contributed to his decision to immigrate and enlist about six months later.[21] Steinberg began serving in the Golani Brigade's 13th Battalion in December 2012.[21] Wounded in July 2014, he insisted on returning to the battlefield and was killed in Shuja'iyeh on July 20, aged 24.[21] Thirty thousand people attended his funeral at Mount Herzl, an extraordinary public outpouring for a lone soldier without immediate family in Israel.[21]

The Hamas terrorist attack of October 7, 2023 directly affected several Americans serving in the IDF, with some killed and others taken hostage.

Itay Chen was born in the United States and grew up in Netanya.[6] He served as a combat soldier in the IDF's 77th Battalion of the 7th Armored Brigade.[6] On October 7, his tank was struck near Kibbutz Nahal Oz while he was defending communities near the Gaza border. He was killed, and his body was taken to Gaza before being returned to Israel for burial in November 2025.[6]

Omer Neutra was a U.S.-Israeli citizen born in Manhattan who had been accepted to Binghamton University but took a gap year in Israel and stayed to serve as a tank platoon commander in the IDF's 7th Armored Brigade, 77th Battalion.[6] His tank was ambushed during the October 7 attack, and his body was taken to Gaza.[6] Israeli authorities confirmed his death in December 2024.[6]

Edan Alexander grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey, having been born in Israel shortly before his parents moved to the United States.[6] After high school, he postponed college and joined Garin Tzabar as a lone soldier, moving to a kibbutz with 16 other American graduates and training for four months before joining the IDF's Golani Brigade.[6] He was taken captive by Hamas on October 7. After his release in May 2025, Alexander stated that his story "does not end with survival — it continues with service," and said he would return to Israel to resume military service.[6]

Rose Lubin, a lone soldier from Atlanta and the cousin of former lone soldier Nate LeRoy, was killed in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem approximately one month after October 7.[2] Zachary Baumel, a U.S. citizen whose case prompted a 1999 act of Congress requiring the State Department to raise his situation with relevant governments, had been among the American soldiers reported missing in action from an earlier conflict.[23]

Beyond those who served or died in particular conflicts, a number of documented American lone soldiers illustrate the range of backgrounds and motivations that draw U.S. citizens and residents to IDF service.

Nate LeRoy grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, and enlisted through the Machal program in 2020, which allowed him to draft before making aliyah and complete a shortened 18-month service commitment.[2] He served in the Golani Brigade until the end of 2021 and subsequently continued in the reserves.[2] LeRoy explained that Machal offered a structured entry point for diaspora Jews who wanted to serve without first completing aliyah.[2]

Kerren Seidner grew up in the Los Angeles area after being adopted as an infant by an Israeli Jewish couple living there.[2] She chose to make aliyah and enlist at 18, drafted in December 2019, and served until August 2022 in a coed reconnaissance unit.[2] She subsequently served as a reservist and mentored current soldiers.[2]

Daniel Flesch, an American who was not an Israeli citizen, served more than 18 months in the IDF, became a paratrooper, and was recognized twice as the outstanding soldier of his platoon.[24] His published account describes his service alongside other American lone soldiers, including Steinberg and Carmeli, and reflects on the tradition of diaspora Jews volunteering for front-line roles.[24]

In 2010, Aharon-Yosef Katsof and Baruch Tretiak established Aish Machal to provide young American Jews with an organized route to IDF enlistment.[5] Katsof, originally from Los Angeles, had made aliyah and himself enlisted despite initially being told that fatherhood exempted him from service; he ultimately completed an officers' course as part of reserve duty.[5] Tretiak, originally from Kansas, served as deputy to the director of Aish HaTorah in Tel Aviv and helped secure Defense Ministry authorization for the Machal branch in February 2010.[5]

The first group organized by Aish Machal comprised 23 members.[5] Nathaniel Schlakman, 18, from New Jersey, was undergoing combat training at the Michve Alon military training base when profiled; he said he could not watch IDF soldiers defend Israel without serving himself, connecting his decision to his reading of Jewish history and the importance of Jewish statehood.[5] Yitzhak Benji, also from New Jersey and recruited through outreach to U.S. Jewish high schools, passed the paratroopers' tryout period; his parents, initially concerned about his move to Israel, expressed pride after he qualified.[5]

Jordan David, called Yarden in the article, grew up in New Jersey and had considered studying at Bar-Ilan University before Katsof proposed military enlistment as a more substantial commitment.[5] Yakov Kroll had studied accounting and real estate at a Santa Monica college; one week before basic training, he said he had concluded military service was the most meaningful way he could contribute to Israel, though he faced housing and financial difficulties as a lone soldier before reporting to the induction base.[5] Moshe and Eliyahu Engelman, 20-year-old twin brothers from New York, were also recruited for the effort; Moshe said that despite warnings that service would delay his college degree, he decided the experience would contribute to his character.[5]

The broader Michve Alon training program that received many diaspora recruits combined military preparation with Hebrew instruction. One graduation ceremony included 189 soldiers from 30 countries, more than half of them classified as lone soldiers, after they completed a three-month program of practical military training and Hebrew lessons.[25] The IDF education corps also provides ulpan Hebrew courses during army service for enlistees who arrive without fluency in the language.[1]

Founded in 2008, Aluf Stone was established as an organization for diaspora-born soldiers who had served in the IDF, including dual citizens and volunteers.[7] Its membership included Americans who had served in combat in the Israeli army, with service records spanning from the 1948 War of Independence through Operation Cast Lead.[7] The organization was affiliated with the American Veterans of Israel, a group for veterans of the War of Independence and Aliyah Bet.[7] Like Marcus himself, some of its members had served in both the American and Israeli armed forces.[7] The organization's name and the tradition it represented reflect the continuity of a pattern that has persisted across more than seven decades of Israeli statehood.

Accounts of Americans in the IDF involve several definitional and numerical complications. The term "American" is not applied consistently across sources: individuals are variously described by U.S. birthplace, U.S. citizenship, American upbringing, or origin from a U.S. city, and the sources generally do not establish formal citizenship for every person named. The roster credited to World Machal documents many examples but should not be treated as a comprehensive list of every American who served.[13]

Estimates of volunteer numbers in 1948 differ according to the populations and service categories counted. Sources variously describe 3,500 volunteers from 43 countries, approximately 1,000 Americans and Canadians across all branches, fewer than 500 North Americans in the army plus a similar number in the air force, and a best estimate of about 1,000 volunteers from the United States and 250 from Canada.[9][10] The 2015 lone-soldier statistics concern lone soldiers specifically and cannot be treated as a count of all Americans serving in the IDF.[4] The overseas-volunteer framework also appears in sources as both "Mahal" and "Machal," variant transliterations of the Hebrew acronym rather than distinct organizations.[9]

Claims about 1948-era U.S. passport restrictions and the temporary suspension of citizenship for Americans serving in a foreign armed force come from a historical account of Machal and should be understood as that source's description of the legal and political risks volunteers faced.[11]