He’s 31, and from Toronto but he’s on a campaign in Israel to join the Israeli Defence Force (IDF).
Lionel Kalles moved to Israel and for the past two weeks has been standing outside a recruitment centre or the IDF headquarters asking to be allowed to join.
The IDF has begun accepting hundreds of recruits, including almost 400 so-called “lone soldiers”. These are Jewish recruits from abroad with no national connection or family in Israel. Foreign-born soldiers are now not uncommon in a variety of national militaries, including the U.S,, Russia, and of course France, which has long had its “foreign Legion”, but not Canada where all recruits must be citizens, or under special conditions, permanent residents. As an example, as many as 30,000 Canadians are estimated to have volunteered to join the U.S military to fight during the Vietnam war.
Kalles has been turned away twice because of his age and his difficulties with the Hebrew language, although he claims his Hebrew is better than many of the ‘lone soldiers” that have been accepted.
Quoted in the Jerusalem Post an IDF officer said Kalles age is a problem, ““It’s a challenge to send a 31 year-old man to be a combat soldier, especially if his commander is 19 years old”.
Kalles says he’s always wanted to join the IDF but couldn’t before now due to family obligations.
Kalles case will be reviewed in another two months to see how well his Hebrew skills have improved.
On report said that in 2015 there were some 145 Canadians serving with the IDF. There could be as many as 1,000 or more Americans in the IDF, of some 4,000 or so other “lone soldiers” coming from dozens of countries
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