In the wake of Hamas’s brutal October 7, 2023, onslaught, as antisemitic chants echoed across her university campus and hostage posters were defaced, “Rebecca” realized she could no longer remain in the United States. The surge in anti-Zionism made her decision clear: move to Israel and enlist in the IDF.

Rebecca, who asked that her real name be withheld for fear of being doxxed, made the move in August 2024 and is now serving as a lone soldier. Her fears stemmed in part from personal fallout after October 7, when, she said, “My best friend of 10 years told me we couldn’t be friends anymore.” The experience made her cautious about whom she trusted with news of her decision to enlist.

“People I sat in classes with, that I studied and learned with, cheered for ‘armed resistance’ while vandalizing our hostage posters with swastikas,” Rebecca said.  Moving to Israel and enlisting “was the only thing in the world that made sense to me,” she added.

She was referring to the widespread “KIDNAPPED” posters created to spotlight the hostages abducted on October 7, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, slaughtering some 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 to the Gaza Strip. It has become common, in the US and elsewhere, for these posters to be defaced by anti-Israel activists.

In the aftermath of October 7, Israel’s community of lone soldiers — young men and women serving in the IDF without parental support — has grown in both size and significance, as enlistment surges and motivations deepen.

According to IDF data for the March-April recruitment period released last month, 1,113 new immigrants were slated to enlist — 674 men and 459 women. (Not all of these are lone soldiers as some arrive with their families.) This marks a significant rise from previous years; 883 new immigrants were drafted during the same period in 2024, and 799 in 2023. The US, Russia and Ethiopia provide the most recruits, a trend that continues from 2024.

Today, Israel is home to an estimated 7,000 lone soldiers. Roughly half are volunteers from abroad; the rest are Israeli-born soldiers without parental support, such as orphans or those from........

© The Times of Israel