Dual Citizenship Among Israeli Military Personnel Reveals Deepening Loyalty Crisis
According to the International Desk of Webangah News Agency, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth has published a detailed report exposing a major crisis within the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stemming from the high concentration of personnel holding dual citizenship.
The statistics indicate that 50,632 military personnel currently serving in the IDF possess citizenship in addition to their Israeli nationality. Among these, 12,135 hold United States citizenship, 6,100 are French citizens, and over 5,000 are Russian citizens. Thousands more soldiers maintain citizenship from countries including Germany, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Canada, and various Latin American nations.
Furthermore, the report details that 4,440 Zionist soldiers hold two foreign citizenships, with approximately 162 individuals possessing three or more nationalities. This data sheds light on the severe human resource constraints facing the military apparatus.
Nidal Abu Zeid, a military analyst speaking to Al Jazeera, interpreted these figures as evidence of profound attrition within the Israeli military ranks. He asserted that this reliance forces the army to depend heavily on personnel with dual citizenships. Abu Zeid noted that the proportion of these dual-national soldiers among the standing forces approaches one-third, substantially deepening the crisis of loyalty within the IDF structure.
Abu Zeid pointed out that the IDF’s dependence on its reserve and standing forces, combined with these figures, reveals limitations in the army’s overall human capabilities. This situation compels the military to utilize dual-national recruits and rely on guerrilla warfare tactics and targeted drone operations supported by special forces, rather than engaging in large-scale ground operations.
The military analyst explained that the official disclosure of this sensitive data serves as an admission by the Israeli military regarding the extent of its erosion—a topic previously subject to reporting restrictions. Abu Zeid stressed that the reliance on dual-national soldiers and the deployment of what he termed ‘traitorous militias’ in Gaza are direct consequences of the army’s inability to revert to traditional ground maneuvers. He concluded that this situation underscores a major personnel crisis and highlights the immense pressures IDF commanders face in current and future operations.
