IDF to issue 14,000 draft notices to ultra-Orthodox men

The Israeli military is expected to soon release 14,000 draft notices to eligible Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) men.

Given enlistment rates from prior drafts of Haredi men, it is unlikely significant numbers of them will obey the draft orders.

IDF Lt.-Col. Avigdor Dickstein told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the Israeli army would not reach its goal of recruiting 4,800 Haredi men this year, despite the 14,000 draft orders soon to be distributed.

The Times of Israel reported that “between July 2024 and this month, the IDF sent out 10,000 initial draft orders to members of the Haredi community in several waves,” though “only 177 of them have so far enlisted in the military.”

The report also noted that “2,231 second draft orders were sent to those who did not show up at induction centers after receiving a first order,” and that “over 1,000 ‘arrest warrants’ were issued against those who ignored the second draft order.”

Only after such a person is officially declared a draft evader, will he be subject to being arrested by the Israeli police.

Out of the 10,000 eligible ultra-Orthodox men who have thus far received draft orders, only 265 are officially considered draft evaders by the IDF.

Haredi communities generally consider the IDF’s orders as a threat to their faith, as they seek to dedicate their lives to learning the Torah.

Since Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled last June that yeshiva students must be drafted by the IDF, Haredi leaders have actively encouraged young men to defy enlistment orders.

“At a time when war has been declared against the world of Torah learning, with schemes to conscript Torah scholars – God forbid – and many other decrees upon the Torah world, the Jewish people have only the power of prayer,” read a notice published by several Haredi newspapers, according to Ynet News.