JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Jordanian man named Yitzhak Rabin won his battle to join the Israel Defense Forces.

After a 16-year battle, Yitzhak Rabin Namsy, 18, earlier this week was granted Israeli citizenship and is eligible to enlist in the Israeli army.

The boy was named by his Jordanian parents in honor of Yitzhak Rabin, who signed a peace treaty with Jordan in 1994, after his assassination in 1995. But the family suffered harassment in their native Jordan due to the name and were forced when Yitzhak was a baby to flee to Israel, where they continue to live in exile.

Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar personally traveled to Eilat to present the 18 year old with his Israeli identification card, according to the Israeli Hebrew-language daily Maariv.

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