page_title: Gadna (Israel)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Gadna (Israel) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Ben Gurion visiting Gadna base in Beer Ora
context_page_description: Gadna is an Israeli military program that prepares young people for military service in the Israel Defense Forces. It was established before the foundation of the State of Israel and was anchored in law in 1949. Today it is a one-week program of discipline and military training usually under commanders serving with the Nahal infantry brigade. Gadna hosts an estimated 19,000 Israeli youth annually, as well as numerous foreign youths.
context_section_description: Gadna, an abbreviation for Gdudei No'ar (גדודי נוער‎; lit. youth battalions), was an organization for youth created before the Israeli Declaration of Independence. Alongside preliminary training for military service, Gadna clubs taught Zionist history, promoted love of the Land of Israel and encouraged members to engage in farming and volunteerism. Social activities included readings of ideological material from Labor Zionist newspapers and publications.
  The program was established in the early 1940s by the Haganah, which became the core of the IDF. Thousands of Gadna members fought in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
  In June 1949, the Knesset passed a law requiring men and women who were physically and mentally fit to serve in the military from the age of 18. The law also provided for the establishment of the Gadna semi-military framework to prepare high school students for military service.
caption: David Ben-Gurion visiting a Gadna base in Be'er Ora (1957)
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