US lawmakers are pushing to provide American soldiers serving in the Israeli army with the same legal protections as American troops, writes Middle East Monitor. The bill puts the estimated 20,000 dual citizens fighting for Israel on a par with Americans serving in the United States.
The legislation passed by Congress would, for the first time in American history, treat service in a foreign military as legally equivalent to service in the U.S. armed forces, but only when that foreign military is an Israeli occupation army.
House Resolution 8445, introduced by Republican Congressmen Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania and Max Miller of Ohio, would amend Title 38 of the U.S. Code so that Americans fighting for Israel would be treated "in the same manner as U.S. service members. The amendment affects nearly 20,000 people.
Under existing law, U.S. veterans’ benefits and military protections are tied to service in the U.S. armed forces. The bill departs from that principle by extending two of the most important U.S. protections to Americans fighting for a foreign country. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act caps interest rates on debt while on active duty and stops evictions and foreclosures. The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act requires U.S. employers to retain the jobs of those called to duty.
Americans have served in foreign militaries for as long as the country has existed—in the French Foreign Legion, in the Australian and New Zealand Armed Forces, and, as of 2022, in the International Legion for the Protection of Ukraine. No comparable legislation has ever been seriously developed for any of these forces. The State Department’s position is that Americans who fight abroad do so at their own risk and should not expect support from the U.S. government.
The legislation comes at a time when American sentiment toward Israel is changing significantly. A Pew Research Center survey released last month found that 60 percent of Americans now have an unfavorable view of Israel, up nearly 20 percentage points from 2012. The share of those who have a “very unfavorable” view has tripled over that period.
Critics of the bill point out that the protections for U.S. veterans are built on a simple convention: those who serve the United States have a claim on the United States. Extending those protections to Americans serving a foreign government, and only one foreign government, establishes that the relevant criterion is no longer service to the country, but the identity of the country served.