Just 177 out of the 10,000 conscription orders sent to haredim (ultra-Orthodox) since July 2024 – less than 2% – have begun their military service, according to fresh data presented in a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee (FADC) meeting on Thursday.
Assessing new recruits takes time, and not all of the 10,000 were expected to enlist this quickly. Still, the number of draftees is far below the pace required to meet the IDF’s goal of reaching 4,800 new haredi draftees by the end of June 2025.
According to the data, the IDF has sent out 2,231 final summons to people who did not adhere to the initial order before arrest warrants are issued.
The IDF has also issued 1,066 arrest warrants as well as officially declared 265 people as draft dodgers, according to the data. An additional approximately 500 are being processed.
The data was presented by Lt.-Col. Avigdor Dickstein, head of the Haredi branch in the IDF Personnel Directorate.
The IDF conscription process is structured in three cycles, each lasting four months, beginning in July of each year. In the first quarter, between July-October, the IDF sent out 3,000 draft orders, and in the second quarter, it sent out 7,000. It intends to send out 14,000 draft orders in the third quarter, which began on March 1, Dickstein said.
He added that the “pool” of potential haredi draftees currently numbers approximately 82,000. The “pool” is the number of haredi men who were 26 years old or younger when the legal exemption for service expired in July 2023, meaning roughly all haredi men aged 18-28.
'Not legally viable'
The FADC meeting came after Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara warned Defense Minister Israel Katz in a letter on Wednesday that IDF recruitment goals of haredim were not being met and that Katz was legally required to enhance enforcement and raise the number of haredi conscripts as long as there is no new law stating otherwise.
It also came after Justice Minister Yariv Levin launched on Wednesday evening the process to remove Baharav-Miara from her position. FADC committee chairman MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud) sided with Levin, arguing in the meeting on Thursday that she has been an impediment to the legislative process of a new bill.
Baharav-Miara ruled as “not legally viable” the government’s decision to skip legislative steps by resuming legislation from 2022 regarding haredi conscription, rather than beginning from scratch. According to Edelstein, when the government went through with the decision regardless, she allegedly ordered the Defense Ministry’s legal adviser not to cooperate with attempts by Katz and others on the bill.