American volunteers<\/span> for<\/span> the Israeli army have partied<\/a> with Ben Shapiro in Boca Raton, met<\/a> with House Republicans Brian Mast<\/a> and Mike Lawler<\/a> in Washington, and joined<\/a> New York City Mayor Eric Adams at Gracie Mansion. On a Manhattan rooftop late last year, they sipped cocktails<\/a> and reconnected with people they\u2019d met before \u2014 supporting Israel in its campaign of bombing, displacement, and starvation in Gaza.<\/p>\n These efforts were organized by Nevut, a New York-based charity supporting American \u201clone soldiers\u201d who sign up for the Israeli military. Among its upcoming events<\/a> is a wellness retreat<\/a> to Panama for lone soldier veterans who served in the Israeli military during its ongoing genocide in Gaza, which has killed more than 58,000 people \u2014 nearly half of them<\/a> children \u2014 according to Gaza\u2019s health ministry. Other estimates put the death toll at 80,000<\/a> or higher.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nevut, which operates across 22 states, is one of at least 20 U.S.-based charities directly funding lone soldier programs. Since 2020, according to The Intercept\u2019s analysis of their tax forms, these organizations have spent over $26 million to recruit and support lone soldiers from initial drafting to reintegration. The groups provide subsidized apartments, therapy, wellness retreats, and equipment to Israeli military units.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Intercept reviewed five years of tax documents that show 2023 was the most lucrative year on record for lone soldier programs. After Israel began calling up hundreds of thousands of reservists in the wake of Hamas\u2019s October 7 attack, U.S. donors poured funding into the organizations. Each year from 2002 to 2020, between 3,000 and 4,000<\/a> lone soldiers served in the Israeli military, about a third of them from North America. Since October 7, 2023, it is estimated<\/a> that 7,000 lone soldiers from the U.S. alone have either signed up or returned to Israel to serve.\u00a0<\/p>\n The programs have helped to prop up an Israeli military now facing its biggest recruitment crisis in decades<\/a>. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drags the assault on Gaza through its second year, civilians have protested<\/a> his government and soldiers have refused to show up for reserve duty. With an estimated<\/a> 100,000 Israeli soldiers refusing service, volunteers from the U.S. and other countries provide reinforcements. Last year, the Israeli military estimated that at least 23,000<\/a> American citizens were currently serving, a combination of lone soldiers and Americans who immigrated to Israel with their families.<\/p>\n On social media, Nevut<\/a> and other organizations post pictures, videos, and testimonies from lone soldiers serving in Gaza. <\/strong>Earlier this month, Nevut promoted a video<\/a> advertising a day at a shooting range as \u201ca little dose of enjoyable fire.\u201d A man wearing military tactical gear says: \u201cAll the guys here serve in the IDF; a majority serve in the war in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n Another Instagram video <\/a>encourages lone soldier veterans to reach out if they\u2019re thinking of going back into combat. One Nevut post<\/a> advises viewers on \u201cWhat not to ask a lone soldier,\u201d including: \u201cDid you kill anyone?\u201d \u201cHow many people died over there?\u201d and \u201cWere you in Gaza or Lebanon?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThese can potentially feel like dismissive, political, or emotionally charged questions,\u201d the post warns.<\/p>\n While the United States\u2019 steady supply of weapons shipments<\/a> to Israel has come under scrutiny from elected officials<\/a> to the United Nations<\/a>, thousands of U.S. civilians who travel to Israel to join the army have received markedly less attention. Back at home, American lone soldiers do speaking tours<\/a> to cleanse the reputation of the Israeli military.<\/p>\n \u201cI almost died for Palestinian children,\u201d said lone soldier Eli Wininger at an event in an Alabama church put on by the Massachusetts-based lone soldier organization Growing Wings. A Los Angeles native, Wininger has touched many sides of the lone soldier ecosystem: He was recruited after taking part in the youth scouts program Garin Tzabar, served with the Israeli military in Gaza,<\/a> returned to the United States, and recently started a volunteer position as a youth leader with the U.S. nonprofit Friends of the IDF. Speaking<\/a> at the Growing Wings event earlier this year, he said he was instructed \u201cnot to kill Palestinian children. There is not a single soldier in there that is doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the U.N., over 50,000 children<\/a> have been killed or injured in Gaza since October 7, 2023 \u2014 though this is likely an undercount.<\/p>\n Wininger did not respond to The Intercept\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n In response to questions on lone soldiers and the army\u2019s affiliation with U.S. nonprofit groups, the IDF told The Intercept it had \u201cno comment.\u201d Neither Nevut nor Growing Wings responded to The Intercept\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n Federal law prohibits recruiting for foreign armies within U.S. borders, but it allows donations and promotion of foreign volunteering. Where, if at all, efforts to help American teens join the Israeli military run afoul of U.S. policy on foreign fighting is hard to determine, experts say.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe State Department basically says on the website that we don\u2019t want Americans serving abroad,\u201d said David Malet, an associate professor of justice, law, and criminology at American University who researches foreign fighters. \u201cBut realistically, we know it\u2019s kind of hard to enforce that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A State Department spokesperson said U.S. citizens serving in the Israeli military are not required to register their service with the U.S. government. Dual citizens must comply with the laws of both countries of which they are a citizen, including any mandatory military service. The department said U.S. citizens are encouraged to consult current travel advisories for Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. (It recommends that people reconsider their travel to Israel and the West Bank, and not travel to Gaza.)\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur embassies overseas maintain rough estimates of U.S. citizens in their countries for contingency planning purposes, but these estimates are imperfect, can vary, and are constantly changing, which is why we do not generally disclose them publicly,\u201d a State Department spokesperson said in a statement.\u202f\u201cU.S. citizens are not required to register their travel to a foreign country with us, so we cannot track with certainty how many U.S. citizens are in any particular country.\u201d<\/p>\n The State Department referred questions about legal implications of serving in a foreign military to the Department of Justice. DOJ referred questions to the Department of Defense, which referred questions to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS referred questions back to the State Department.\u00a0<\/p>\n Across the Jewish diaspora and in Israel, lone soldiers are receiving more recognition than ever.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m definitely aware of increased numbers of volunteers which are welcomed in Israel right now,\u201d Malet said. \u201cYou can see a lot more recognition and efforts to honor fallen lone soldiers than you would have seen before October 7.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n By signing up, I agree to receive emails from The Intercept and to the Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Use<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n Becca Strober was hailed as a hero when she returned to the U.S. while serving as a lone soldier in Israel. As she walked around her father\u2019s synagogue in Philadelphia in 2009, the congregants stood up to shake her hand and thank her.<\/p>\n \u201cI had just finished guarding a West Bank settlement,\u201d said Strober, now an anti-occupation activist. \u201cEven then, I was like, this is such a weird experience.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Strober was first introduced to the possibility of joining the Israeli military when she was 17, during a high school semester<\/a> she spent in Israel. She said alumni of the semester in Israel program wearing miliary uniforms spoke to her group. \u201cThere were a lot of informal ways of talking about enlisting in the army,\u201d Strober told The Intercept.\u00a0<\/p>\n She later joined after participating in the Garin Tzabar<\/a> program, which runs two major drafting sessions<\/a> each year. The program is funded by Tzofim, the biggest Zionist youth movement in Israel and the U.S. Also known as the Friends of Israel Scouts, the group has a U.S. nonprofit <\/a>in New York.<\/p>\n Tzofim \u201cbegins educating kids at five years old,\u201d said one former Zionist youth leader in Australia, who requested anonymity for fear of professional retaliation. He took part in groups affiliated with Tzofim as a teen. \u201cThere is a direct funnel from educating toddlers to, as soon as they turn 18 \u2014 they\u2019re of military age and they\u2019re indoctrinated and groomed and brainwashed, and they\u2019re ready to fight the battle.\u201d<\/p>\n Garin Tzabar continues to recruit lone soldiers from the U.S., who often end up serving<\/a> in combat in Gaza and \u201cprotecting civilians\u201d in the West Bank<\/a> \u2014\u00a0where Israeli settlers and forces have killed <\/a>1,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n The recruitment pipeline includes many U.S. day schools \u2014 from more conservative yeshivas to modern Jewish day schools \u2014 that advertise how many alumni go on to serve in the Israeli military.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Frisch School in Paramus, New Jersey, had 51 alumni<\/a> serving in the Israeli military as of 2023. Another school in New Jersey, the Rae Kushner Yeshiva, has congratulated an alum who became a social media manager<\/a> in the IDF Spokesperson\u2019s Unit.<\/p>\n \u201cHer work was recognized as important for hasbara by the Israeli news,\u201d the school boasted on Facebook, using a term for Israeli public diplomacy, including propaganda<\/a> tailored to international audiences. Another alum of the school served as a lone soldier in the army and was a friend of the son<\/a> of Netanyahu, who commemorated<\/a> him after he died while traveling in 2018.<\/p>\n\n We\u2019re independent of corporate interests \u2014 and powered by members. Join us. <\/h2>\n
\n Become a member
\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n Join Our Newsletter <\/span>
\n
\n Thank You For Joining! <\/span>
\n <\/h2>\n
\n Original reporting. Fearless journalism. Delivered to you. <\/span>
\n
\n Will you take the next step to support our independent journalism by becoming a member of The Intercept? <\/span>\n <\/p>\n
\n Become a member
\n <\/a><\/p>\nThe Pipeline<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/EE9D9B82-D854-4E6C-A7ED-520F22934D49_1_105_c.jpg?fit=1086%2C724\")