Israel's reserve military service system

Established in 1948, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is one of the armed forces with the highest defense budget in the Middle East. As the most experienced armed force in the world, the IDF has participated in five large-scale wars and countless other small-scale conflicts since the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC) for half a century. In terms of personnel, the main advantage of IDF is its excellent quality and perfect system of personnel training, not the number of personnel. The IDF also relies heavily on high-tech weapon systems. Israel also has some institutions or enterprises that specialize in the production and research and development of weapons technology for the Israel Defense Forces, and some of them are imported from abroad (mostly from the United States). According to unofficial estimates in August 2004, the IDF has 65,438+068,000 active servicemen, including 65,438+025,000 in the army, 8,000 in the navy and 35,000 in the air force. After mobilization, the reserve can be rapidly increased by 408,000, bringing the total number of armed forces to 576,000.

Most Israelis (men and women) were recruited at the age of 18. Some immigrants will also join the IDF voluntarily. But Arab citizens are an exception, and most Arab citizens are not recruited to avoid conflicts of interest that may arise when fighting other Arab countries. Other people who don't need to be soldiers include disabled people, married women or people for religious reasons. The compulsory service period for men is three years, and that for women is two years. There are Bedouins and other ethnic minorities in Israel's defense forces. Since 1956, Druze, like Jews, have been recruited by IDF. Those who study in religious institutions can get a deferred call-up. Most Jewish Orthodox people will delay their service until they exceed the legal service age, which has caused quite a controversy in Israel.

Although Arab citizens are not included in the draft, they can join the army voluntarily. The same policy applies to Bedouins and many non-Jewish citizens.

After compulsory military service, Israeli men were transferred to the Israel Defense Forces Reserve Force and served for several weeks every year until they were 40 years old.