IDF: Only 2,940 ultra-Orthodox men enlisted in 2024, falling far short of goal

Only 2,940 ultra-Orthodox men were drafted to the military in 2024, far off from the IDF’s goal of 4,800, 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 the number “is much higher” than the previous annual average of 1,800 Haredi soldiers, but is still “far from our target of 4,800, and even farther from the army’s needs.”

Currently, approximately 80,000 Haredi men between the ages of 18 and 24 are eligible for military service and have not enlisted. The army has stated that it is facing a manpower shortage and currently needs some 12,000 new soldiers — 7,000 of whom would be combat troops.

Tayeb also tells the committee that most of the ultra-Orthodox men who enlisted last year did not enlist in special tracks for Haredi soldiers.

According to Tayeb, some 1,300 of the soldiers joined units specifically for Haredi men, while the other 1,600 enlisted to “general” service tracks.

Of the nearly 3,000 Haredi soldiers, just over 1,000 are combat troops, including 400 in the ultra-Orthodox units — including the new Hasmonean Brigade — and 650 in general combat units, he says.

Tayeb also tells the lawmakers that all 80,000 Haredi men eligible for conscription are in the process of being called up. “Unfortunately, the rate of non-cooperation among the [Haredi] population is very high, and we have built a process that allows the [conscription] process to be carried out at a faster pace,” he says.