From the Liveblog of
Monday, February 3, 2025
Arrest warrants issued for 1,212 Haredi men who defied IDF draft orders last summer, lawmakers told
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Only 461 out of 3,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged 18-26 who received enlistment orders from the military last summer have presented themselves at IDF draft offices, although the number continues to rise, Brig. Gen. Shay Tayeb, head of the IDF Personnel Directorate’s Planning and Personnel Management Division, tells lawmakers.
Testifying before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Tayeb says arrest warrants have been issued for 1,212 men, and an additional 1,242 of those who have not complied with call-up orders have been barred from the leaving the country.
These numbers are slightly higher than those presented by the government to the Knesset’s State Control Committee in early January, when it was reported that some 400 recipients presented themselves at the IDF drafting offices, but only approximately 70 actually enlisted at the end of the process.
The dispute about the ultra-Orthodox community serving in the military is one of the most contentious in Israel.
The Haredi religious and political leadership fiercely resists any effort to draft young men, who have in the past been granted exemptions from serving. The issue has come to a head in light of recent High Court rulings demanding an end to blanket exemptions, and public pressure has risen due to the manpower shortages caused by the war.
The military has said that it currently requires some 10,000 new soldiers, 75 percent of whom will be combat troops.
The Times of Israel Community.