First-Ever Volunteers from Thailand and Honduras Join IDF

The Algemeiner reports: This summer, 153 foreign volunteers from 12 different countries are enlisting in the IDF, according to data published on Sunday by the Israeli Defense Ministry.

The group of new recruits — 122 males and 31 females — features the first-ever volunteers from Thailand and Honduras, the ministry said. The leading source of soldiers from abroad in the current July-August draft cycle is the United States (68), with France coming in second (58). Other countries on the list include Britain, South Africa, Belgium, Mexico, Australia, Canada and Austria.

18-year-old Bangkok native Marisa Avram — the daughter of an Israeli father and a Thai mother who converted to Judaism — told the Hebrew news site nrg, “I think that serving in the IDF will be an amazing experience for me, and I’d be very happy to serve in a combat role.”