Courtesy of JNS. Photo credit: StandWithUS/X
Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Cedrick Garin, 23, was killed in action in the Gaza Strip in January 2024
(JNS) — Several children of foreign workers who grew up in the Jewish state are petitioning and pursuing legal avenues to be allowed to serve in the Israel Defense Forces.
Mariel, one of the initiators of the request submitted to Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, spoke during an interview on Wednesday with Kan News about the importance of enlisting in the IDF for her and her peers: “Israel is the only place I know; it’s my home.”
Dozens of young people, whose parents are foreign workers without legal status in Israel, have come together and approached Arbel, the Defense Minister Israel Katz, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and the Prime Minister’s Office, asking to become citizens and enlist in the IDF.
Mariel said she became aware of the fact that she would not be called to enlist when she hit 11th grade and all the other students received draft notices.
“Since the beginning of the [Iron Sword] war, I’ve been volunteering in any way that I could to help,” she explained during the interview. “Together with several other friends, we went out and volunteered on our own, because we felt that the war effort was something that everyone needed to get involved with in whatever way they can.”
Mariel and her friends went to the Arava and the Negev to help farmers with their crops, specifically farmers whose land had been hit hard by the war, or who were called up for reserve duty.
She told the interviewer that her private efforts to enlist failed, due to her lack of status as a citizen of Israel. She therefore decided to enlist the help of a lawyer to push for her and others like her to be able to enlist.
Individual requests of this nature were submitted at the beginning of the war, by Mariel and others, but went unanswered. Several of the young people banded together and hired attorney Zari Hazan, who based their request on a clause in the Citizenship Law, 5712-1952 that allows granting status to individuals who contribute significantly to the state.
When asked why it was so important for her to enlist, Mariel responded, “I am part of this country. I was born here, I grew up here, and I want to give back to the country.”
As she began to cry, she added, “This is the only place that I have ever known. It is my home. It is incredibly frustrating to me that I have to go on the news to explain why I am an Israeli and why I belong. This is what I feel in my heart. My friends and I only want to give back. We don’t see any other place in the world as our home, except Israel.”
Mariel added that she would not give up until she received her draft order and is able to join the IDF.
Separately, a letter, sent by the Tel Aviv-based Hotline for Refugees and Migrants organization, was addressed to Arbel and signed by 120 young people. In it, Rain, the daughter of Filipino parents living in Tel Aviv, wrote, “I feel that this is my home. Israel has given me so much, and I want to give back to the country.”
Some children of foreign nationals have managed to serve in the IDF, such as Cedrick Garin, the son of Imelda and Enrico Basilio, two workers from the Philippines. Enrico was deported in 2002, when his son was 2 years old. Cedrick was raised by his mother.
Cedrick had difficulty getting the IDF to agree to his enlistment, but eventually succeeded, and he received citizenship upon completing his regular service.
In January of this year, Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Cedrick Garin was killed in action in Gaza while fighting Hamas. This week, Enrico was granted permanent residency status.
An Eritrean man, Mulugeta Tsagi, received permanent residency status in November 2023 after saving the life of an Israeli soldier during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 invasion, in a similar case where the clause from the Citizenship Law was utilized.
In July, then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the IDF requires an additional 10,000 soldiers to meet operational demands.
In October, IDF chief Halevi told high ranking officers: “The IDF needs to be larger, both in the standing army and reserves, which is why we’re establishing more units.”
