Up to 80% of all draft evaders are ultra-Orthodox, IDF general tells Knesset |
Up to 80 percent of Israelis currently classified as draft evaders hail from the ultra-Orthodox community, the head of the army’s personnel directorate told lawmakers on Tuesday, amid a spike in the number of people officially classified as evading mandatory military service.
The statistics were presented by Brig. Gen. Shay Tayeb, head of the IDF Personnel Directorate’s Planning and Personnel Management Division, to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
The committee was deliberating on a controversial bill that would codify blanket exemptions from military service for full-time yeshiva students, while setting modest conscription targets for the community as a whole. The bill is being advanced as the IDF has warned that it faces an urgent manpower shortage.
According to Tayeb, 49% of those designated as draft evaders, or who have received the so-called Order 12, sent to those who don’t show up to enlist when required to do so, are Haredi.
Among those whose background could not be definitively identified, 25% to 30% more are considered “likely Haredi” based on indications such as educational background and other factors, he said.
Tayeb reported that the total number of people who have either been designated as........