Hundreds of youth from US and Europe and possibly Australia are serving in the Israeli military and some have been killed and wounded.
The notion of Europeans and Americans serving in the Israeli army isn’t new.
Before the creation of the state of Israel, thousands of western volunteers were recruited by the Zionist movement – in a process named Mahal or volunteers from abroad to take part in Zionist military operations in Palestine during the British Mandate.
When Israel carpet bombed Lebanon, Australian citizens holidaying there were under those bombs. Those bombs were not directed at military targets but at civilians and civilian infrastructure. This is both terrorism and a war crime. Australians serving in the IDF took part in that criminal activity but to this day they have not been charged with their terror attacks on Australian citizens holidaying in Lebanon.
This Ramadan no doubt several Australian citizens of Palestinian ancestry visited Gaza to spent this sacred occasion with their extended family. When Israel again perpetrated its war crimes against Gaza, the Australian government issued a warning to Australian citizens to leave the area. At the same time it supported Israel in its criminal act. Yet there were foreign nationals including possibly Australian citizens serving with the IDF who are complicit in this crime against humanity.
The Australian government rightly makes a lot of noise about young Australian Muslims who go to fight in the obscenity that is Syria and Iraq, but its claims ring hollow when it fails to act against Australian citizens participating in an identical obscenity in Gaza and Lebanon. Until Australian politicians take a stand against Israel’s crimes and stop being one-sided in their criticism of Australian Muslims then their words are hollow and there is no chance of stopping the radicalization of Muslim youth in the way that Jewish-Australians serving in the IDF have been radicalized,