IDF says it had expected over 400 Haredi inductees this week, when only 48 showed up

A military representative has told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee the army had expected hundreds of Haredim to show up Monday and Tuesday for their preliminary processing into the army.

Only 48 of the 900 who received draft orders showed up over the course of the two days, an abject failure for the military’s first attempt to broaden recruitment in the ultra-Orthodox community.

The military has moved to begin drafting some 3,000 Haredim in the coming months, in line with a High Court ruling that there is no longer legal justification to avoid doing so.

The draft orders are the first stage in the screening and evaluation process that the army carries out for new recruits, ahead of enlistment in the military.

Shay Tayeb, head of the IDF Personnel Directorate’s Planning and Personnel Management Division, tells the committee: “We had indications that over 200 would show up every day.”

He adds that mass Haredi protests outside the recruitment center at the Tel Hashomer army base had likely dissuaded some from showing up.