Israel very much is a melting pot. Yes, only Jewish people are drafted. But that includes a wide variety of backgrounds - people whose families are from the Mid

Israel very much is a melting pot. Yes, only Jewish people are drafted. But that includes a wide variety of backgrounds - people whose families are from the Middle East, Russia, Ethiopia, the West (particularly recent French immigrants)... The drafting class takes people who grew up in completely secular homes and in religious homes. There's an ongoing political battle over whether to draft people from ultra-Orthodox backgrounds. Additionally, there are some ultra-Orthodox volunteers, as well as volunteers from the Bedouin, Druze, Circassian, and Christian and Muslim Arab minorities. Indeed, the IDF is what forges an "Israeli" identity within the melting pot of Israeli society.