‚Why did I decide to enlist?‘ asks Sergeant Yusef Salutta, a 20-year-old Arab from the north of Israel who serves with the Desert Reconnaissance Battalion. The army rarely grants journalists access to the unit.
‚Because I’m from this country and I love the country and I want to contribute,‘ he said. ‚Everyone should enlist, anybody who lives here should enlist.‘
The military conscripts young Jewish men and women, but not Arabs. It does not report exact numbers of Arab volunteers, but officials say there are several hundred among the 175,000 active personnel.“ (Rinat Harash: „In bid to belong, Israeli Arabs sign up for Israel’s army“)