Dual citizens of Israel and reservist call-up

[Dewey_Finn]

Here’s a gift link to a New York Times article about the scene on Tuesday at Terminal 4 of JFK Airport, from which El Al flies to Israel, describing the Israeli soldiers and reservists who were in the US getting ready to board flights home. And other people were there to send them off and provide supplies (body armor, energy bars, underwear, band-aids, etc) for them to take. One group was chartering a plane to transport seventeen ambulances.

BTW, the article mentioned that El Al will be flying on Saturday, which isn’t something they normally do.

[Loach]

@bump

I know… my point wasn’t that we have a draft, it’s that if you’re a citizen or green card holder, you’re eligible the moment you turn 18, regardless of where you’re from/whatever other citizenships you may hold, because as far as Uncle Sam’s concerned, those don’t matter.

Yes that’s true. Even if you get your green card at 24.5 you are still supposed to sign up for selective service.

Unlike other countries mentioned in this thread there are few legal ramifications if you don’t sign up. You won’t be able to get a federal job. You may not be eligible for some government aid. It may keep you from getting a needed security clearance at a civilian job.

It wasn’t that long ago I had to look up my selective service number for an online form. Maybe it was a college financial aid form for my daughter? They needed the number despite the fact that I’m in my 50s and a 27 year veteran of the Army.

[hajario]

There’s an interesting quirk in the US. Not every male over 18 needs a selective service number.

Nixon ended selective service registration in 1973. Anyone under 18 at that time didn’t have to sign up. Carter brought it back in 1980. Everyone between 18 and, I think, 24 had to sign up and then it continued to this day. I don’t feel like doing the math but there is like a three year birthdate range for people too young for the old draft and too young for the new one. It’s something like born between 1956 and 1959. There are stories of those guys having trouble convincing beaurocrats that they really don’t have one or need one.

I registered on my 18th birthday. I didn’t follow the law and keep the draft board informed when I moved because I had no idea how to do it nor did I have any idea what my number was. It’s easy to look up online nowadays.

[Broomstick]

@Dewey_Finn

BTW, the article mentioned that El Al will be flying on Saturday, which isn’t something they normally do.

True. Sabbath and all.

But Israelis will fight on the Sabbath, and I believe this comes under the rules that saving lives and defending oneself takes priority.

[TokyoBayer]

@md-2000

I thought that for military serivice most countries made a distinction between citizenship by birth and by inheritance - the warning I recall about Greece was that anyone born in Greece was at risk of being held for military service, but not people whose parents were Greek.

This is an interesting question, so I did a bit of poking around online.

Apparently, Greece does allow citizenship both jus soli (birthright citizenship, e.g., by being born in the country) and Jus sanguinis (‘right of blood’, citizenship by inheritance).

Outside the Americas, however, jus soli is rare.[7][8] Since the Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland was enacted in 2004, no European country granted citizenship based on unconditional or near-unconditional jus soli until the adoption of Latvia’s jus soli citizenship law in 2020.[9][10][11]

Almost all states in Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania grant citizenship at birth based upon the principle of jus sanguinis (“right of blood”), in which citizenship is inherited through parents rather than birthplace, or a restricted version of jus soli in which citizenship by birthplace is automatic only for the children of certain immigrants.

It does look like Greece allows certain people to aquire citizenship by being born there.

A child of a Greek citizen acquires Greek nationality automatically at birth. The same applies to children born in Greece whose parents have lived legally and permanently in Greece for five years.[citation needed] Children born abroad and whose parents have lived legally and permanently in Greece for five years become Greek citizens upon successful completion of elementary education (six years). Greeks born abroad may transmit citizenship to their children from generation to generation indefinitely.

If you look at the list of countries with mandatory military service and also the list of countries with jus soli (dark or medium blue in the graphic), there isn’t much overlap.