Israel’s Channel 12 News reported on Wednesday that a secret Israeli mission rescued an IDF soldier who was arrested in Turkey while visiting her parents. Islamist groups had pushed for the imprisonment of the dual Turkish-Israeli citizen, who was charged with serving in a foreign army. After a few hours in prison, she was sentenced to house arrest. She was extracted from Turkey on Feb. 18.

The few details that were released revealed that pressure by Israel’s Foreign Ministry and the United States overcame the pressure of the Islamist groups.

About 50,000 IDF soldiers with dual citizenship are in danger of facing similar action while visiting foreign countries. In January 2025, an IDF soldier vacationing in Brazil was forced to flee after facing a similar threat. In his case, the Foreign Ministry also had to intervene to help him escape.

Anti-Israel groups are using lawfare to target IDF soldiers abroad. Chief among these is the Hind Rajab Foundation, which has successfully caused the detention of dozens of IDF soldiers in foreign countries. Whereas these organizations used to target only high-ranking military officials, now they consider any soldier who served in Gaza to be guilty of war crimes.

These people, who have nothing better to do with their lives than intimidate and harass Jews, monitor the social media accounts of IDF soldiers to follow their travels and get them nabbed as soon as they step foot outside of Israel.

Brooke Goldstein, founder and director of the Lawfare Project, which advocates on behalf of people targeted by lawfare, said in an interview that these anti-Israel lawfare organizations have escalated their tactics.

“Previous failed efforts to prosecute Israelis for alleged war crimes have focused primarily on political and military leaders rather than rank-and-file soldiers. The move to target lower-level personnel, like the IDF soldier in Brazil, represents a major escalation in legal and advocacy strategies.”

A high-profile example of this occurred when Israeli comedian Guy Hochman was arrested upon touching down in Toronto at the behest of the Hind Rajab Foundation. He was held and interrogated for six hours before being released.

Working with Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights and the Legal Centre for Palestine, the groups compiled a 40-page dossier containing information on the combat veteran and submitted it to authorities.

The Israeli consulate intervened to secure his release. Hochman later made it to his performance in Toronto, where he and his manager were attacked by a member of a pro-Palestinian mob. His manager was injured, and police arrested the perpetrator.

The Hind Rajab Foundation accused Hochman of “military propaganda and incitement linked to Israel’s war on Gaza,” based on videos he filmed with fellow IDF soldiers, which it said “led to his recruitment into a role linked to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, an unusual position for a civilian entertainer. In this role, Hochman appeared in military uniform and disseminated messaging that glorified destruction in Gaza, promoted revenge narratives, and contributed to the normalization of war crimes.”

The group also accused him of engaging “in overt political advocacy” by “promoting retaliatory narratives” in his content and calling for the blocking of humanitarian aid.

“While presenting himself internationally as a comedian, much of his recent content has moved beyond satire, using humour to dehumanize Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims, and pro-Palestinian demonstrators, and to normalize collective punishment,” the group said.

The group’s attempts to prosecute IDF soldiers in court have failed, however, as no Israeli soldier has ever been accused of war crimes or prosecuted for conduct in Gaza in a foreign court.

Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism recommended in July 2025 that Israel not allow members of the Hind Rajab Foundation entry into Israel.

“To date, [Hind Rajab] has filed claims against at least 28 soldiers in eight different countries,” the ministry said last year.