Mordechai (Mordy) Botnick, 32-33, is a Canadian from Ottawa who joined the Israeli army when he was 18 and served until 2011. Jewish Life Arizona reported that Botnick’s father is a Chabad rabbi in Ottawa, and that his family was opposed to his decision to join the Israeli army. The Jewish Home reported in 2016 that Botnick left for Israel at the urging of his grandmother after he was kicked out of school.

Botnick’s voluntary military service was completed in the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, which Al Jazeera described in a 2024 article as “an all-male ultra-Orthodox battalion unit.” In April 2024, Axios reported that the United States was considering sanctioning the unit “for human rights violations in the occupied West Bank.”

After finishing his military service, Botnick founded Chayal el Chayal, an organization that says its mission is to “provide a warm and welcoming home” for so-called lone soldiers, referring to people who travel from abroad to join the Israeli army.