The IDF on Tuesday announced that it has started a serious operation to arrest draft dodgers, including from the haredi population, with 36 individuals arrested last night.
At press time, the military had declined to reveal how many of the 36 arrested draft dodgers were actual ultra-Orthodox, but the tone of the IDF announcement suggested that individuals from a variety of Israeli sectors were arrested, such that the actual number of arrested haredim could have been in single digits.
Previous such operations occurred in November 2024 and March of this year.
To date, IDF enforcement against draft dodgers generally, and those from the haredi sector in particular, has been exceedingly rare.
Out of around 80,000 draft-age eligible haredim, around 24,000 have been sent draft notices since summer 2024, but less than 3,000 have been drafted, and only a minuscule number have been arrested.
In November 2024, the IDF said it had issued around 930 arrest orders for haredim who had refused their draft call-ups,, but there was no critical mass of increased enforcement of those orders.
The impression given by military sources until now has been that there will not be a wave of arrests, even if there might be a small number from time to time, and that mainly those haredim who refused draft notices will be restricted from international travel, as they could be arrested at the airport.
There is pressure on the IDF from broader Israeli society, the High Court of Justice, and the attorney-general to do more in the enforcement area to try to increase the number of haredim actually drafting.
Target for number of haredi troops
On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for the first time, gave concrete numbers which he sees as goals for drafting haredim, citing 10,500 over two years, or around 5,250 per year, which would be somewhere between 40-50% annually.
The IDF military police have not regularly enforced arrest orders against haredi draft dodgers partially because they are overworked by other aspects of the ongoing war and partially because the coalition has been against any pressure that was too dramatic and which might lead the haredi parties to topple the government.
As is, various haredi Knesset members said the IDF's latest move could potentially lead to toppling the government, though if the number of actual arrested haredim remains as low as it is now, the government could limp on about the issue into late 2025 or even early 2026.
According to the military, it imminently needs another 7,000 combat fighters and another 5,000 combat support staff to replace the many soldiers who were killed or wounded during the current war.
Further, the government, the opposition, and the legal establishment are all worried about fewer reservists showing up for draft duty until they hear that haredim are also being drafted in larger numbers.