A British Columbia resident serving with the Israel Defence Forces is getting a free trip home after the country's Prime Minister offered him a seat aboard his official plane.

Jonathan Fader of Richmond, B.C., credits his good fortune to a chance meeting with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu while on field manoeuvres with the Israeli army last week.

"I thought he was joking," the 23-year-old soldier told Israel National News.

Mr. Fader has been training for five months with the Israeli army. When Mr. Netanyahu visited the trainees after a 20-kilometre exercise, Mr. Fader was called out to chat with him. The PM found out that Mr. Fader is a "lone soldier" -- a term that means he has no immediately family in Israel -- who had volunteered to join the IDF. When the homesick soldier mentioned that he hadn't been home for a year, Mr. Netanyahu said, "I'm going there next week" and invited him aboard Israel's version of Air Force One.

The PM's aides soon followed up by taking down Mr. Fader's phone number and military identification.

No one was more surprised than Mr. Fader's mom, Joan, who was on board an Alaskan cruise ship with her husband Stephen when she saw the story in the Jerusalem Post, posted on her son's Facebook account.

"I just about fell off my chair. My sister tells me the story is all over Israel. He's quite a celebrity," she said. "I really miss my kids when they're away. I can't wait to see him."

Ms. Fader said her son has always been fascinated with the military, and spent a year organizing his paperwork to serve in the IDF.

"Moving to Israel and joining the army was all on his own initiative," she said.

Mr. Netanyahu's plane flies first to Paris, where the pair will stop as the Prime Minister signs documents. It then flies on to Toronto on May 28 for a conference, and his office is making arrangements to send Mr. Fader on to Vancouver.