Israel remembers its fallen soldiers, others from minorities

THE Jewish state’s defenders, commemorated on Memorial Day yesterday, included many non-Jews.

So in towns and villages throughout the country, it wasn’t only Jews who made the agonizing pilgrimage to the country’s military cemeteries to pay their respects to their loved ones.

Some 600 fallen soldiers and terror victims have hailed from the Arab, Druze, Bedouin and Circassian communities.

The Druze, a breakaway sect from Islam, is the only minority that has taken upon itself Israel’s mandatory draft and serves in large numbers alongside Jewish soldiers in some of the IDF’s most elite units. Hundreds of Bedouin Arabs from the Negev also serve, many saying that they see in military service an opportunity to advance personally and to strengthen their community’s reputation among Israelis.

Two Muslim Arab brothers, Milad and Muhammad Atrash, made news in 2013 when they both opted to serve in the IDF despite not being required to do so under Israeli law and despite the disapproval of their neighbors.

“I want to enlist in the army so I can defend my village, my country,” Muhammad Atrash told the Mako news website.

According to TimesofIsrael, soldiers from many of these minority communities are highly regarded for their dedication and valor, and several have reached the upper echelons of the IDF. Yusef Mishleb became the first Druze to rise to the rank of major general in 2001, serving in a variety of positions including head of the Homefront Command until his retirement in 2008. Col. Ghassan Alian is currently the highest-ranking officer of the Druze community. Alian commands the storied Golani infantry brigade.

Druze have served as pilots, as warriors in the ultra-elite Sayeret Matkal, and in other