page_title: Circassians in Israel
section_title: State of Israel
hierarchical_section_title: Circassians in Israel / History / State of Israel
caption_attribution_description: cherkess7
context_page_description: Circassians in Israel refers to the Circassian people who live in Israel. They hail from a Northwest Caucasian ethnic group native to Circassia who mostly adhere to Islam.
  Circassians in Israel are Sunni Muslims; they number about 4,000 and live primarily in two towns: Kfar Kama, and Rehaniya. They are descended from two groups settled in the Galilee by the Ottoman Empire in the 1870s.
  Circassian men serve in the Israeli military. Along with the Druze, they are the other minority group in the country for whom male military service in the IDF is mandatory.
context_section_description: Circassians fought on the Israeli side of the War of Independence. At their community leaders' request, since 1958, all male Circassians must complete the mandatory military service in the Israel Defense Forces upon reaching the age of majority, while females do not. In this, they are equal to the Israeli Jews and the Israeli Druze populations living in the State of Israel proper (this excludes most of the Druze population living on the Golan Heights). The percentage of the army recruits among the Circassian community in Israel is particularly high. Many Circassians also serve in the Israel National Police, Israel Border Police, and the Israel Prison Service.
  In 1976, the Circassian community won the right to maintain its own educational system separate from the Israeli government's Department of Arab Affairs. As a result, the community manages its own separate educational system, which ensures that its culture is passed down to the younger generations. In 2011, a bill was passed by the Knesset to allocate NIS 680 million to the development of education, tourism, and infrastructure in Circassian and Druze villages.
caption: Circassian youth in traditional dress in Israel
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