8 Fascinating Israeli Military Rules Citizens Have to Follow

Weird laws imposed by Israel Defence Forces.

A strong defence is a must for the Israelis due to their geopolitical position — this is why they allocate most of their budget to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces).

Israeli forces are highly trained personnel. The fact that potential threats surround Israel doesn’t give Israel any choice other than to have a strong military.

However, these soldiers must follow some absurd rules while training or already trained personnel. These rules may seem somewhat ridiculous at first, but they all derive from cultural influence and the history of the Israelites.

Below are some of these strange laws that are part of the Israeli defence force for your spirit of inquiry:

1. Israeli Women Are An Integral Part Of The IDF

Almost 51 percent of Israel’s population is women, and IDF has allowed women to take part in combat.

Women can be in any branch of Israel Defense Forces, whether it be Army, Navy or Air Force. The basic rule is if anyone qualifies for the job they are to be assigned, including combatants jobs, it won’t matter what gender you are.

2. A Military Service Is a Mandatory Event For The Children of Israelis

Well, this one is simple, if you are a citizen of Israel, then you must serve in the military for a certain period; it is more of civic duty.

The service can be excused only if there is a medical condition or religious reasons. This rule is not only limited to the citizens of Israel, but it is applied to the Israelis living abroad too, but in a different way.

The children of Israelis living abroad who want to come to Israel to study, whether religious or conventional, must take permission from their consulate.

With that permit, they can stay and explore Israel for up to three years without doing the mandatory military service.

However, if they choose to stay after completing their three years, they will need to enlist in the military or leave if they are unwilling to perform their civic duty.

3. You Better Have Children On Time If You Don’t Want To Serve In IDF

Israelis are so concerned about their population that they have made it a national priority.

Increasing the number of Jewish people is so vital that they have amended the law allowing the Israel Defense Forces to exempt anyone married and one with children or at least one child from the mandatory military service.

Further, they can reduce the required duration to as much as they feel suitable for this person.

4. Most Complete Their Training To Sit In Reserve

Most Israeli military service men or women complete their training and their required service time to be a part of reserve troops.

The idea here is to train every Israeli and make them combat-ready so that if there is an emergency, the military can quickly deploy their more experienced troops as soon as possible.

These reserve troops are trained periodically so they don’t get rusty and are always up to service demands.

5. Getting Permission Before Appearing In Public

Well, when it comes to its public image, Israel Defense Forces are overprotective about it, and to safeguard this clean image, they have strict laws in place which every military personnel needs to follow.

To avoid politicization of their military, anyone who is planning to make a public appearance, especially at a political event, will need to get permission from a higher rank official.

Above all, it would be rather unfortunate if only because of one soldier’s appearance at a rally or a political event gave out the impression that the Israel Defense Forces back a specific party.

6. IDF Does Take A Mellow Approach Toward Women

The mandatory time that the men need to spend in the military is 32 months; for women, the required period is only 12 months.

The number of women can go down even more, depending on the age at which she arrived in Israel, and if a woman comes to Israel after the age of 21, she doesn’t need to join the IDF.

7. Not allowed to receive any Gifts

So if you are military personnel in the Israel Defense Forces, you better not receive any gift from anyone, mainly because of your rank, status or position. Receiving gifts is banned under the anti bribery act just to prevent corruption.

So yeah, whether it be just a bottle of wine or a box of chocolate, the IDF personnel are not allowed to accept any because of the consequences they will face later.

8. Your Age Determines How Long You Will Serve

Age is everything when talking about mandatory military service. The age of a person when they first arrive in Israel for citizenship will also determine how long they will serve in the military.

If an individual arrives in Israel before age 18, the civic duty will be not less than 32 months, and if upon arrival the individual was over 28, then there is no need to join IDF at all.