IDF releases ‘likely inaccurate’ figures showing stunted Haredi enlistment

The Israel Defense Forces releases fresh statistics on ultra-Orthodox enlistment for July 2018 to December 2019, but preemptively stresses that the figures are likely inaccurate — an acknowledgment of a scandal from earlier this year in which the military was found to have repeatedly published false enlistment tallies.

According to the military’s assessment, which it says is inherently flawed, 1,788 ultra-Orthodox — or Haredi — men enlisted in the IDF from July 2018 to June 2019 and another 983 joined the army from July 2019 to December 2019.

The military is no longer given required enlistment figures — so it can’t be said to have missed its target — but these figures fall far short of the numbers previously given to it by the government. In 2016, the last year a requirement was given, the military was meant to draft 3,200 Haredi Jews.

“In light of the fact that the duty to report is anchored in law, the IDF presented its reports to the defense minister. It should be stressed in advance and unequivocally that the IDF does not have the ability to present an accurate report,” the military says.

— Judah Ari Gross