IDF issues 1,000 draft notices for haredi recruits, 6,000 more planned

Due to the low number of haredim who were drafted, the IDF more than doubled the number of notices being sent out in this round of draft attempts.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB NOVEMBER 14, 2024 16:00 Updated: NOVEMBER 14, 2024 16:03

A haredi man and an IDF soldier pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, November 14, 2024 (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)

The IDF on Thursday said that it would issue 1,000 new draft notices to haredim on Sunday as part of 7,000 draft orders which it will issue over the next 6-8 weeks.

The notices go out as Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa will be replacing Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asur in the coming days as head of the Human Resources Command for the IDF, including handling the haredi draft issue.

These 7,000 draft notices come despite Defense Minister Yisrael Katz replacing Yoav Gallant last week and despite general opposition from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his haredi coalition partners' opposition to changes of policy other than solidifying the existing blanket exemption from military service.

They also come after 3,000 draft notices went out in an earlier round this past summer, which led to drafting just under 300 haredim.

In fact, due to the low number of haredim who were drafted, the IDF more than doubled the number of notices being sent out in this round of draft attempts, hoping to reach higher total numbers of haredim actually joining the army.

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men protest against attempts to change government policy that grants ultra-Orthodox Jews exemptions from military conscription in Jerusalem February 26, 2024. (credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)

At the same time, IDF sources made it clear that they view the wide issue of haredim joining the IDF as primarily an issue for the government.

A government issue or an issue for the IDF? 

The IDF was pressed that out of around 930 arrest orders it has issued for haredim who have refused their draft orders, there has been no noticeable spike in actual arrests.

The impression given by IDF sources was that there would 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 would be restricted from international travel, as they could be arrested at the airport.

Of the around 300 new draftees, 50% are aged 18-20, meaning less often married, 40% are aged 21-23, and 10$ are ages 24 and up.

One new option for service that the IDF has added for haredim to make service more attractive is serving in technical and logistical capacities at a Hardened Aircraft Shelter at an Air Force base section where only men will serve.

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Another new option is the Yoav Track within the Logistics Command, which can mean fulfilling a wide variety of technical and logistics roles throughout the military, and not just in the Air Force.

Also, on December 26, the IDF will open a new haredi fighting brigade, distinct from Netzach Yehuda, which has been the target brigade for haredim to date but already has turned off many of the ultra-orthodox because it has a reputation for being more religious Zionist than haredi.

Additionally, there is a new unit of haredim serving at the camp Ofer Prison, and that program is expected to grow.

There is a new lieutenant colonel with a Hasidic Chabad background who is focused on haredi affairs and making sure new inductees are comfortable and are having their needs addressed.

While the IDF’s progress on drafting haredim has been modest, given the around 65,000 haredim who are theoretically eligible to be drafted, it did see an 85% rise in relative terms of haredim joining in the last third of the year.

Around 900 joined, which, if the military keeps pace, would get the total number of new haredi draftees up to 2,700 annually from 1,800 annually.

IDF had already issued summons 

This comes after the IDF started to issue summons to all haredim who reach the age of 16.5, as is done with the rest of the population, on top of the already older haredim, which the IDF is now trying to retroactively draft.

IDF sources said that they had hoped to jump to 1,300 for the last third of the year and are still hoping to raise the annual numbers even much higher.

Despite those optimistic ambitions, other IDF sources acknowledged that the fact that only around 10% of haredim in the first round of 3,000 draftees showed up for service could signal continued hard times going forward.

In fact, the IDF had specifically selected 3,000 haredim who, based on how busy they were with Yeshiva studies, work, and family, would have seemed to be the most likely category of haredim to show up.

Further, around 50% of those first-round haredim at times had given the military positive signs, but then many of them dropped out of the process when heavy communal anti-IDF pressure came to bear, including many haredim arriving at draft centers to physically block their brethren from entering IDF bases.  

Following that experience, the IDF kept draft dates private and arranged for private transportation of haredim to bases to make it harder for anti-IDF haredi activists to intercept and block other haredim from joining.