Singapore says involvement in Israeli military-linked groups ‘not acceptable’

2026.03.24 08:20 Singapore’s skyline. The city state has warned against involvement in Israeli military-linked groups like Sar-El. Photo: AFP Singapore authorities warned on Tuesday that involvement in organisations linked to the Israeli military, such as Sar-El, would not be acceptable under current conditions and could attract action under the law. In a joint media release, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Ministry of Defence (Mindef) noted that Sar-El’s website states that it is “deeply committed to supporting the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces)”, and its volunteers “work side-by-side with soldiers on IDF bases”. “Being involved in organisations like Sar-El on these terms today would not be acceptable, and action will be taken under our laws against anyone whose involvement in such activities is found to be prejudicial to Singapore’s national security and interests,” the ministries said. Their comments came after authorities became aware of social media posts resurfacing an old blog post that encouraged volunteering with Sar-El, an Israeli non-profit service organisation. The blog, written by a Singaporean around 2018 or 2019, was taken down in 2025 but was recently reposted by other social media users. At least one of them questioned why the Singaporean was asking others to join the IDF as volunteers in Israel. According to the ministries, the author of the blog post and his father volunteered with Sar-El for around two weeks in December 2016. Midway through this period, the father wrote to Singapore’s authorities to ask whether his son could participate in volunteer activities with Sar-El as part of a volunteer programme in his school in the US. The father informed the authorities that: At that time, Sar-El’s website stated that it assists the IDF, and its volunteers would work in IDF warehouses and be given guided tours of some locations in Israel, as well as lectures on Jewish and Israeli topics, the ministries said. Based on the information provided by th

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