In February, The Maple released Find IDF Soldiers, an online database with names and profiles of Canadians who have served in the Israeli military.
The site, which now contains 206 profiles based entirely on public information, was created to help answer questions such as “who Canadians that have joined the Israeli military are, why they made the choice they did, who or what influenced them to do so, what they did while in the military, and how they may feel about it.” The site does not accuse these soldiers of having violated any Canadian law or participated in Israeli military crimes.
The vast majority of the people on the website were born and raised in Canada and immigrated to Israel later, sometimes with the express intent of joining its military. Some of them have stated that at least part of the reason they did so was because of their experiences at institutions in Canada.
GTA to IDF is a new project from The Maple’s opinion editor, Davide Mastracci, dedicated to learning more about these institutions in the Greater Toronto Area, including what they’ve had to say about Israel and its military.
Canada is a significant contributor of “lone soldiers” to the Israeli military. These soldiers come exclusively from Canada’s Jewish communities, as they are the only ones able to immigrate to Israel solely on the basis of their ethnoreligious background. As of 2021, about half of Jewish Canadians lived in Toronto. The Find IDF Soldiers project found that the average lone soldier is “most likely to have grown up in a Greater Toronto Area neighbourhood with a larger-than-average proportion of Jewish residents in what they’d describe as a Zionist household.” This is why the GTA has been selected as the geographical area for this project.
An institution was eligible to be included in this project if it and/or its head office is based in the GTA and it’s associated with at least four military members contained in the Find IDF Soldiers database. This project defines “associated” as an individual having attended, spoken or worked at an institution. This doesn’t mean the soldier represents the institution in any capacity or that the institution necessarily endorses any of the soldiers’ actions or statements.
Seven institutions in the GTA met the criteria for this project. They consist of summer camps, schools and synagogues.
We’ve created a profile for each of these institutions containing: a general description of them and their views on Israel; mentions they’ve made of the Israeli military since Oct. 7, 2023; details on their associated charity; the individuals in the Find IDF Soldiers database they’re associated with; connections they may have to other institutions in this project.
It’s likely that more of the individuals included in the Find IDF Soldiers database are associated with these institutions than are listed here, as we weren’t able to find this information for the majority of the database.
All of the information on this website has been pulled from public sources, including the websites and social media accounts belonging to these institutions, news articles, and the Canada Revenue Agency. This information isn’t being collected and republished here to encourage any harassment of the institutions named. We’re also not accusing these institutions of having recruited or facilitated the recruitment of Canadians into the Israeli military.
On this website you’ll find a directory of the institutions included in the project and a profile page for each one, a table listing these institutions and the military members associated with them, and a page containing links to any relevant articles about this project from The Maple.
Please click the card below to check out the website, and then share this project as widely as possible if you find it to be useful.
Davide Mastracci
