Haredi protesters condemn the project in Jerusalem. Photo: Yonatan Sindel/flash 90
Only 461 of the approximately 3,000 Israeli ultra-Orthodox men aged 18 to 26 who received draft notices last summer reported to military commissariats. An army spokesman told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee on Monday, The Jerusalem Post reports.
According to Shai Tayeb, head of the Israeli Defence Forces’ Directorate of Personnel Planning and Management, 1,212 arrest warrants were issued for evading service, and another 1,242 ultra-Orthodox were banned from travelling abroad.
Previously, according to a decree of Israel’s founder, David Ben-Gurion, men from this religious community were exempt from military service if they devoted themselves to the study of the Torah and other sacred texts of Judaism. However, in June 2023, the country’s Supreme Court cancelled this privilege, obliging students of religious schools to join the army.
In response, the army began to send summonses to ultra-Orthodox Christians, which caused massive protests among community members.
Today, ultra-Orthodox Jews make up about 14% of Israel’s population, which is approximately 1.3 million people.
