IDF offers one-time amnesty to thousands of draft dodgers, citing manpower shortage

The Israel Defense Forces announced Sunday it would be giving draft dodgers — many of whom are members of the ultra-Orthodox community — a one-time opportunity to enlist in the military without facing punishment for desertion.

Some 14,600 Israelis — both men and women — are listed by the IDF Personnel Directorate as draft dodgers and deserters, including those who began the process of enlistment but never drafted and those who ignored draft orders for an extended period.

All of them potentially face jail time for refusing to enlist, but enforcement has been limited.

For five days starting from Sunday night until Thursday, August 21, those Israelis will be given a “final opportunity” to register to be enlisted without facing jail time, as part of an operation in the IDF dubbed “Starting Anew.”

The military said it would send notices to the draft evaders, allowing them to register via a link in an SMS message or by calling the army’s Meitav Unit, which is responsible for drafting soldiers.

Normally, draft evaders would have to serve jail time upon enlisting, as punishment for their desertion. The military said it has identified that many draft evaders have refused to show up over fears of having to face jail time and being given a criminal record.

Therefore, those who register by Thursday and report for duty would be exempt from serving jail time and receiving a criminal record.

If a draft dodger enlists as part of the agreement, their punishment for evading duty will be suspended and only activated if the soldier does not abide by the terms of their military service, such as deserting duty.

The IDF warned that it will not allow the program to be abused by deserters to get out of military service and avoid jail time.

Those who report for duty will be required to arrive at induction centers ready to leave immediately for basic training. There will be no delays, and they will be required to serve the full mandatory service time, which is 32 months for most male troops and 24 months for women, with some exceptions depending on the unit and their age.

IDF officials said they did not know how many would show up for duty under the plan.

The plan comes as the army has repeatedly stated that it is facing a manpower shortage during the ongoing war, and currently needs some 12,000 new soldiers — 7,000 of them combat troops.

At the same time, the IDF said it plans to intensify enforcement against those who have not reported for military service.

Currently, approximately 80,000 Haredi men between the ages of 18 and 24 are eligible for military service and have not enlisted. Most of them have not been formally declared as draft evaders, as only recently the IDF issued them enlistment orders.

Speaking to lawmakers last week, Brig. Gen. Shay Tayeb, head of the IDF Personnel Directorate’s Planning and Personnel Management Division, said only 2,940 ultra-Orthodox men were drafted to the military in 2024, far off from the IDF’s goal of 4,800.

Testifying before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Tayeb said 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.”

Tayeb also told 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 are in general combat units, he said.

Tayeb also told 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 said.

The dispute about the ultra-Orthodox community serving in the military is one of the most contentious in Israel, with decades of governmental and judicial attempts to settle the issue having failed to achieve a resolution.

The Haredi religious and political leadership fiercely resists any effort to draft young men, who have in the past been granted exemptions from serving. The issue has come to a head in light of recent High Court rulings demanding an end to blanket exemptions, and public pressure has risen due to the manpower shortages caused by the long ongoing war.

Many ultra-Orthodox Jews believe that military service is incompatible with their way of life, and fear that those who enlist will be secularized.

Israelis who do serve, however, say the decades-long arrangement of mass exemptions unfairly burdens them, a sentiment that has intensified since the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught and the ensuing war, in which nearly 900 soldiers have been killed and some 300,000 citizens called up to reserve duty.

You appreciate our journalism

Join Our Community

Join Our Community

Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this