Weaponized volunteering in schools: The discourse of volunteering and pre-military education in Israeli high schools.

This article analyzes the interrelation between two compulsory educational programs in Israeli high schools: the pre-military "Program for Meaningful Service" (MP) and the volunteering-based "Program for Personal Development and Social Engagement" (VP). Through discourse analysis of official policy documents, the study reveals a shared narrative that merges civic volunteering with militaristic service, portraying military conscription as a central component of good citizenship. This entanglement, described as "weaponized volunteering," normalizes militarism within civic education by framing both volunteering and military service as complementary duties that reinforce a collective national identity, while limiting critical or activist perspectives. The findings highlight tensions between republican and liberal civic education paradigms and raise questions about the implications of conflating civic engagement with military service in shaping Israeli youth’s citizenship.