Israel’s most-recent assault on Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023. Since then, Israel has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians including at least 16,456 children, 135 journalists, nearly 1,000 health workers, 230 United Nations staff members and many others.
The campaign has also damaged more than 87 per cent of housing units and schools in Gaza, destroyed 53 per cent of hospitals and turned the rest into only partially functioning units, and internally displaced at least 90 per cent of the population. Israeli attacks on Lebanon, meanwhile, have killed more than 3,000 people, including at least 185 children.
In January, the International Court of Justice found it to be “plausible” that Palestinians in Gaza have rights under the Genocide Convention that are at risk of being violated, including the right to “be protected from acts of genocide.” In May, the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutor filed arrest warrant applications for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant accusing them of bearing responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Canada has aided Israel’s campaign in several ways, including by providing it with military equipment. Canadian citizens have also gone to Israel to join its army and take part in its attack on Gaza.
There are no publicly available statistics on how many Canadians have done so. However, in February, Nefesh B’Nefesh, an Israeli organization that facilitates Jewish immigration from North America, said 67 Canadians made the journey since Oct. 7, 2023, 524 opened applications to do so and 900 others said they’ll do the same in 2024. At least some of these settlers will end up in the army due to Israeli law.
The identities of the vast majority of Canadians fighting in the Israeli army aren’t known, but some of them have spoken out publicly. The Maple has created a list of any soldier that has done so, and put together mini profiles of who they are and what they’re doing in the military.
In October, the Hind Rajab Foundation filed a complaint to the ICC against more than 1,000 soldiers fighting for Israel, and noted that four of them were Canadians. This article is not intended to imply that any of those identified here have personally committed war crimes.
If you’re aware of Canadians who joined the Israeli army that aren’t listed here, or have any other relevant information, plus get in touch. We hope to expand this article in the future.
Benjamin Brown
Benjamin Brown, 20-21, was raised in Toronto and was an active member of the Jewish community, attending Jewish elementary and high schools. Brown’s father, Jeffrey Brown, is a former president at Beth Avraham Yoseph Synagogue in Thornhill, Ont. The rabbi at the synagogue, Daniel Korobkin, told the Canadian Jewish News (CJN) that the Brown family are “very strong religious Zionists.”
After high school, Brown moved to Israel in order to attend a yeshiva and also enlist in the army. In July 2024, Brown was nearing the end of his service in the 12th Battalion of the Golani Brigade in Shebaa Farms — Lebanese land illegally occupied by Israel — when the army base where he was stationed was struck by a Hezbollah rocket. A piece of shrapnel pierced Brown’s brain and he was eventually placed in a medical coma in an attempt to allow him to heal.
CJN reported that Benjamin was inspired by his older brother, Zach Brown, who had served in the Israeli army a few years prior as a “top sharpshooter” in the Kfir Brigade. He described the brigade as a “combat unit that primarily specializes in urban warfare in the West Bank.”
Korobkin told CJN that both brothers joining the Israeli army was a “natural outcome” of the education they received at their Jewish schools, as well as other factors. A mother of one of Benjamin’s classmates said that around a quarter of their high school class joined the Israeli army, and that the students are commemorated with a plaque in the school.
Ari Halevi-Wise
Ari Halevi-Wise, 21, was born in Montreal. He visited Israel for a year after finishing high school in Canada, and then decided to remain there permanently.
Halevi-Wise was completing his national service in the Israeli army in 2023. His unit was initially stationed in an area near Gaza, but was moved to the illegally occupied Golan Heights in the days before October 7. His family claims that those who weren’t moved were all killed or captured on October 7. Halevi-Wise’s service was then extended as Israel’s assault on Gaza began.
Ari is the son of Yael Halevi-Wise and Daniel Wise, both of whom are professors at McGill University. Yael is an associate professor of Jewish Studies and English and the chair of the Jewish Studies department, while Daniel is a professor in Mathematics and Statistics. Both Yael and Daniel have signed public letters over the years opposing pro-Palestine activities, including one in 2016 decrying attempts from McGill students to pass BDS motions.
Yael has made multiple appearances in the press since Oct. 7, 2023, where she has discussed deciding to remain in Israel during her sabbatical year as well as her son’s participation in Israel’s war. Yael says she was born in Israel and was also in its army in the past. She told the Canadian Jewish News that she is impressed by her son’s commitment and morale, but is sad for him and other Israeli soldiers.
CityNews reported that Yael plans to work on bringing needed supplies to soldiers, and that she said, “It’s up to me and to all of us to preserve this gift that is the state of Israel and to preserve Judaism.”
Nir Koren
Nir Koren is an Ottawa lawyer and rabbi who was born in Israel. Various profiles state that Koren has worked as a community rabbi in several countries, including Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia.
Koren left his family to join the Israeli army within a week after Oct. 7, 2023. He told the National Post that he previously served with the Israeli army in 2006 during its war in Lebanon, but that the current conflict is different: “We fought against soldiers (in Lebanon), we didn’t fight against civilians.”
Koren was mentioned in the Oct. 18, 2023, session in Ontario’s parliament by MPP Greg Rickford, who said, “As I watched the events unfold in Israel, I’m in awe of the bravery in its full display. In the face of this evil, thousands of men and women are stepping up to fight for what is right: their homeland, their people and their right for a safe community and their loved ones. I think of people like Ottawa’s Nir Koren, a lawyer and father of five who’s made the journey back to Israel. People like Nir recognize the danger that they are stepping into. They don’t run from it; they step into it.”
Noy Leyb
Noy Leyb, 33, is a Canadian from Calgary and was an active member of the Jewish community there, attending Jewish elementary and high schools. Leyb moved to Israel after high school and served in the army for a few years as a paratrooper, reaching the rank of First Sergeant and being stationed on the borders of Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. He attributed this life path to his Zionist parents, who “always told me to be proud of my Judaism and to never be afraid to speak out.” One of Leyb’s brothers also noted that their father, a grandfather and a cousin had all served in the Israeli army.
After finishing his army service, Leyb lived and studied in Israel until 2020 when he moved to Michigan for an MBA, then back to Israel and then to New York. He returned to the Israeli army a day after Oct. 7, 2023, and also abandoned his tech start-up to focus on hasbara full time, according to Alberta Jewish News (AJN), who he told: “I sleep maybe four hours a night, and the first thing I do is hasbara. It never gets old, at least not yet.”
Leyb has had the most media exposure of those included in this article by far, with a verified Instagram account with more than 38,000 followers, a Twitter account with the handle “YourIDFSoldier” and interviews and coverage in a range of publications, including: the Canadian Jewish News, CBC, the National Post, CNN, National Review, NBC, Jewish Journal, TMZ, ABC, the New York Post, the Daily Mail, Business Insider, Global News, and others. He has also given speeches in cities throughout North America.
Even Leyb’s personal life has managed to attract media attention, including when he was banned from the dating platforms Tinder and Hinge. Leyb said, “I’m not one to blame antisemitism right away, but this is it. Nothing else explains this [...] I’ve never done anything wrong.” The ban came after he uploaded a photo of himself wearing his army uniform and holding a machine gun. “This is the dating app that bills itself as the one ‘designed to be deleted,’ but I was the one who wound up being deleted,” Leyb added.
Leyb has spoken about his post-October 7 deployment in great detail. He told AJN that he spent his first three weeks back in the army training with a Special Forces commando group, and ended up being one of the first to go into Gaza.
Leyb said his unit played a key role in “dismantling Hamas” in northern Gaza, but that the experience was different from past deployments: “I’ve been on the Lebanon border, the Gaza border. I’ve arrested terrorists, I’ve gone into Arab villages, I’ve done everything, but this is different.” Leyb told the National Review he believes Palestinians are “raised on terror” and “breathe terror.”
Leyb’s unit was eventually released in January, and then was deployed again in May. He has since focused full time on his hasbara efforts, saying, “We need to keep this momentum up, this strong Jewish pride, supporting each other, right, left, liberal, orthodox, it doesn’t matter.”
Noy is a brother of two other people included in this article: Shar Leyb and Tav Leyb.
Shar Leyb
Shar Leyb, 31-32, is a Canadian from Calgary and was an active member of the Jewish community there, attending Jewish schools. In 2010, the Canadian Jewish News (CJN) reported Leyb had wanted to join the Israeli army since elementary school. “People have known ‘that kid’s going to the army.’ I’ve wanted to go into the [Israeli army] since I was very young,” Leyb said, adding that one of his brothers, his father, a grandfather and a cousin had all previously joined the Israeli army.
CJN interviewed Leyb, a recent high school graduate, on his way to Israel, where he said he was planning to stay permanently. The publication reported: “Leyb will go into a kibbutz, brush up on his Hebrew and then enter the army in November. He hopes to become a paratrooper.”
Leyb would in fact go on to join the Israeli military, but in a different unit. As reported by Electronic Intifada in 2019, “Leyb stated [...] that he was a member of Duvdevan, an elite Israeli military unit whose members often disguise themselves as Palestinians in order to carry out extrajudicial executions. Leyb even described taking part in a raid on a Palestinian home where young children were sleeping and where the combat soldiers confronted a woman holding a toddler.”
Leyb returned to Canada in 2017 as part of the group “Reservists on Duty,” which is an Israeli NGO bringing army reservists to university campuses in an attempt to combat BDS. Two years later while travelling with the group, Leyb accused pro-Palestine students at York University protesting the event of chanting, “Intifada, Intifada, go back to the ovens.” Leyb made this claim to a reporter at the Jerusalem Post, who then reported it as fact, leading to condemnations from Canadian politicians at all levels, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Later on, the Jerusalem Post admitted Leyb was its only source for the claim, and as of yet not a single piece of audio or video evidence has been produced to substantiate it, despite dozens of recordings from the event being posted online.
Leyb returned to the Israeli army in October 2023 and has since been deployed multiple times. He was deployed again last month, according to an Instagram post from his brother.
Shar is a brother of two other people included in this article: Tav Leyb and Noy Leyb.
Tav Leyb
Tav Leyb, 22-23, is a Canadian from Calgary who has been part of the Israeli army since at least October 2023.
Tav has two brothers that have also served in the army over the past year, both of whom are included in this article: Shar Leyb and Noy Leyb. Tav’s brother Shar told the Canadian Jewish News that their father, a grandfather and a cousin had all previously served in the Israeli army.
In an August Instagram post, Tav’s brother Noy said that Tav had been serving on the front lines in Gaza for the past 10 months: “For the past 307 days, you’ve been serving on the front lines. While others (like your brothers) had a 2-3 month break, you chose to stay and volunteer extra time. I’m super proud of you man. 10 months at war at the age of only 22 is not normal. But now it’s time to let our parents have some peace and quiet - they haven’t been sleeping since Oct 7th since at least 2/3 of us Leyb brothers were on the front lines.”
Nir Maman
Nir Maman, 47-48, was born in Israel and moved to Canada with his family when he was young. After finishing high school, Maman returned to Israel to join the army, and eventually served as a commando instructor with an “elite counter-terrorism unit,” according to the Canadian Jewish News (CJN).
Maman’s LinkedIn profile lists a wide range of military, combat and policing jobs, including stints as a police constable in Prince Edward Island, a Toronto Transit Commission special constable, an Ontario peace officer, a deputy sheriff in Georgia, and a police officer on a reserve in the United States. Maman also states that he has worked as a bodyguard, a Krav Maga instructor and in specialized hostage rescue positions.
Prior to Oct. 7, 2023, Maman was last deployed with the Israeli army in the late 2000s, and lived in Toronto. After that day’s events, Maman decided to return to the army, but had to convince them to allow him to do so.
In November 2023, he was deployed with Unit 5060, a “light infantry reserve battalion in Hebron” where he was “manning checkpoints, hunting for terrorist cells and conducting raids,” according to CJN. Maman said, “Every night we are going out on arrest missions. We are kicking in doors of Hamas terrorist homes.” He claims that his unit has nicknamed him Thanos.
Maman told CJN that taking part in the war has made him “more connected to our religion, to our roots, to our purpose.” He added, “You go to a pro-Israel protest and our people say, ‘We just want peace for everybody. We just want, that’s it, for the Palestinians, and for us and for everybody.’ You go to their protest, they just want death for everybody. And so, our values are very special, they’re very unique.”
While back in Canada on a furlough, Maman was requested to return to Israel immediately as his unit was going to be entering Gaza. Maman has documented his experience in the army on Instagram.
Benjamin Philip
Benjamin Philip, 18-19, is a Canadian from Montreal who planned to join Israel’s army from a young age, according to a profile of him in Israeli publication CTech. Philip said, “My great-aunt and uncle and great-grandparents were all Holocaust survivors, and growing up I would always hear about what happened to them. It was very important to me as I got older to ensure that something like that would never happen again.”
By 2023, Philip was already planning to move to Israel. As such, in August, he signed up for the Garin Tzabar program for lone soldiers, which was set to start in the winter. His decision was reinforced after witnessing the events of Oct. 7, 2023. “All that I could think about was not being able to do anything from Canada,” Philip said, adding, “I wanted to come [to Israel] faster. I was thinking about my family here.”
His mother, Galia Philip, told the Canadian Jewish News (CJN) that Benjamin departed for Israel in December 2023 and hoped to join an elite army unit. The National Post noted that Philip was preparing for a March enlistment in a combat position.
Benjamin told CTech that he was “deeply influenced” to join the army by his older brother, Eden, who is also included in this article. Speaking of her two sons joining the army, Galia said, “My kids did it (enlisted) not because they had to but because they wanted to. To choose to go to the army, follow certain rules, being under strict conduct, takes a lot of courage. I’m proud of my two boys that that was their choice. I strongly believe that they will do their best and they will come back safe and sound.”
In August, CJN published an update on Benjamin’s status: “Galia Philip said her son Ben is finishing his training in a paratrooping unit, completing his parachuting course and sniper training. Ben overcame an injury during training and is now preparing to serve in a parachuting unit. She anticipates he will be deployed to Gaza or Lebanon.”
Eden Philip
Eden Philip, 27-28, was born in Israel and raised in Montreal. His mother, Galia Philip, told the Canadian Jewish News (CJN) that Eden went to Israel to join the war on Oct. 17, 2023. She said she was initially opposed to the decision because he had already served for two years as a lone soldier in the past, where he was a “marksman and commander” in the 603rd Combat Engineering Corps. Galia noted that the unit Eden joined after Oct. 7, 2023, as a Sergeant First Class in reserves, was in the north of Israel on the Lebanese border for the first month, but then moved into Gaza.
Benjamin, Eden’s younger brother who is included in this article, joined the Israeli army after Oct. 7, 2023. Speaking of her two sons joining the army, Galia said, “My kids did it (enlisted) not because they had to but because they wanted to. To choose to go to the army, follow certain rules, being under strict conduct, takes a lot of courage. I’m proud of my two boys that that was their choice. I strongly believe that they will do their best and they will come back safe and sound.”
She shared a letter with CJN that Eden had written to her in December 2023 during Hanukkah as he was preparing for his next deployment, where he wrote, in part, “I didn’t do anything special, I did what every Israeli chose to do on the seventh of October. I chose to pick up my iron sword and defend our country, our people, our home. We should all be making this effort whether it be with a weapon in our hand, with a pen in our desk, with the letters on our keyboards. Each of us can do more. Each of us has a part to play in the history of the Jewish people.”
Eden’s LinkedIn profile notes that since returning from Gaza he has worked as the director of security at the Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem synagogue in Montreal. He had previously worked for a private security agency.
Temima Silver
Temima Silver, 22-23, was born and raised in Ottawa, and spent her early years in what she described as a predominately Jewish environment, including elementary school. She then attended a public high school in Ottawa, and has repeatedly claimed the antisemitism she faced there motivated her to move to Israel and join the army as a lone soldier. Silver told CBC the antisemitism she experienced was “through anti-Zionism.”
Silver joined the army in 2020, leaving university in order to do so. She told the Ottawa Jewish E-Bulletin in 2022 that she was a “checkpoints combat soldier.” Silver was released from service later that year and remained in Israel.
In the days after Oct. 7, 2023, Silver decided to join the army again after a call for volunteers was made to her former platoon. Silver told the Canadian Press she made this choice because of how important she believes the war effort would be. “If you don’t believe that this will succeed, then you don’t believe that you see a tomorrow for future generations of Israel, of Jews, of your brothers and sisters. There is no choice,” she said. Silver has also claimed the Israeli army is concerned with protecting human life, and that this stems from the lessons of Judaism.
In July, according to her LinkedIn, Silver began working as a paralegal at an Israeli tax law firm.
Michael Zenou
Michael Zenou, 33-34, was born and raised in Toronto to an Israeli father. At 24, Zenou moved to Israel where he began working in the logistics field, as well as at a stand in Jerusalem selling fruit juice. He also served in the Israeli army for two years. When asked about why he chose to move to Israel, he said, “It’s the best place.”
Zenou said he was called back into army service an hour after the Hamas cross-border assault on Israel became known. Speaking to CTV News on Oct. 13, 2023, about his service, Zenou said he was in an army unit on the north side of the Gaza border. He added, “I was myself in a gunfight on [Oct. 11, 2023] between a unit of eight Hamas terrorists who were all killed.”
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