Are these being mil issued? A big one up on the makasi if so
How so? Until somebody does side-by-side testing to destruction of a reasonable sample size, we will likely never know which is the "better" rifle. "Better" is a relative term anyways - entirely dependent upon the priority and value assigned to each rifle's performance, features and characteristics.
I don't need all of that to substantiate one rifle over the next. If I want both, I will eventually buy both. The Makasi as produced to date, has received sufficiently positive reviews from the likes of "Small Arms Solutions" that I am confident it is a solid platform that will provide many, many years of reliable and accurate performance as a general utility rifle, a livestock loss-prevention tool, as a competition rifle and as a general plinker.
I suspect that the exact same favourable things could be said of the IWI Carmel if one were inclined to defend it over the Makasi. I am not so inclined, given the lack of aesthetic appeal of the Caramel and the poor cost to value ratio of polymer-framed rifles in general.
Military adoption and/or use in combat is highly over-rated as an indicator of satisfactory performance, IMO. To begin with, military firearms tend to get carried far more often than they are fired in both training and in "anger". The quality of individual operator maintenance has a significant bearing on the reliability, accuracy and longevity of military small arms. In my personal experience as an Infantry soldier of 30(+) years, military service is far more a testament to a rifle's durability than any other particular attribute. At the end of the day, most armies treat their small arms like any other tool, not as prized, personal possessions.