News

Twice as many Canadian Jews serve in Israeli military as Canada’s armed forces

November 9, 2026

More Canadian Jews were serving in the Israeli army in March 2025 than in the Canadian military as of earlier this year, The Maple reported on 6 November, according to documents from the Canadian and Israeli governments.

An article on the Government of Canada website published in March stated that an estimated 680 Canadian Jews currently serve in the country’s regular armed forces, making up one percent of its total number, with more serving in the reserves.

Jewish Canadians make up about 0.9 percent of the Canadian population.

By comparison, 1,524 Canadian Jews with Israeli citizenship were serving in Israel’s military as of March 2025, according to a document released by the Israeli government in February of this year.

This means that there may be double the number of Canadian Jews serving in Israel’s military than in Canada’s.

More dual-national citizens have served in Israeli occupation forces than in Canadian military
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Government records from Ottawa and Tel Aviv indicate that more than double the number of Jewish Canadians were actively serving in the ranks of the Israeli occupation forces compared… pic.twitter.com/KKEpL7DMrb

— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) November 6, 2026

In addition, another 60 Canadians who do not hold Israeli citizenship are thought to be fighting in the Israeli army.

In October 2025, The Maple published an article about 49 Canadians who have served in the Israeli military since the genocide of Gaza began in 2023.

The majority were Canadians who moved to Israel to serve in the military as so-called “lone soldiers.”

A March 2026 Pollara survey commissioned by The Maple found that 54 percent of Canadians agree with making it illegal for Canadian citizens to serve in Israel’s military.

Canadians can currently serve in foreign state militaries unless that military is at war with a Canadian ally. It is therefore legal for Canadians to serve in the Israeli military.

In April 2024, the Israeli military killed Canadian-American military veteran Jacob Flickinger, along with six other aid workers in a drone strike in Gaza. He was working with World Central Kitchen (WCK) to help distribute food in the devastated strip when Israel killed him.

This Father’s Day, remember Jacob Flickinger, an American father killed by an IDF strike while cooking meals for starving families in Gaza.

He never made it home to his son. Justice for Jacob. pic.twitter.com/IzeFM8c5XG

— Turkish Archives (@TurkishArc) June 21, 2026

The attack attracted international condemnation because the aid workers were traveling in clearly marked humanitarian vehicles on a route that had been coordinated with the Israeli military.

Israel refused to pursue criminal charges against the soldiers involved. Ottawa issued statements condemning Flickinger’s killing but took no action to sanction Tel Aviv in response.

In 2006, the Israeli military killed a Canadian soldier, Major Paeta Derek Hess-von Kruedener, who was serving as a UN peacekeeper in Lebanon.

In the days before an Israeli airstrike killed him, the soldier had “sent emails home to Canada reporting that Israel was bombing schools and waging ‘a campaign of terror against the Lebanese people.’”

Past reporting from The Maple has found that Israeli military service is “celebrated by mainstream Jewish institutions in Canada,” including in Jewish schools, which promote fighting for Israel.