Israeli draft

Israel's attorney-general urges High Court to cut benefits for 110,000 draft evaders

Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara urged the High Court to consider restricting tax and transport benefits for draft evaders, citing government inaction and the IDF's urgent manpower needs.

|BySARAH BEN-NUN
Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) men at the Tel Hashomer IDF base, August 30, 2026.
Members of the Chabad community at Ben-Gurion Airport, October 20, 2026.

IDF detains 42 Chabad Hassidic draft evaders arriving from New York at Ben-Gurion Airport

Of the 42, 40 expressed willingness to enlist and were found fit for military service, while 2 were found to have dodged the draft for an extended period and were sent directly to a military prison.

|ByJONAH DAVIDOV, JAMES GENN
THE ZIONIST identity didn’t overcome the Jewish identity, nor did the opposite occur: An IDF soldier puts on tefillin.

National-religious men overrepresented in IDF reserves as haredim stay absent, IDI analysis finds

National-Religious men were found to have increased in service substantially from the start of the war until 2025, while the participation of secular men decreased the most of any group.

|ByJONAH DAVIDOV
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen Eyal Zamir meets with soldiers in southern Lebanon, July 4, 2026.

Israeli youth eager for combat, majority see IDF as victorious - poll

Despite their faith in the IDF, just 59% expressed medium-to-high levels of trust in the IDF's senior command, while 41% said that they had low or very low trust in the army's senior leadership.

|ByESTHER DAVIS

Bill barring draft-dodgers from getting scholarships heads to final vote

Any university student who did not serve in the IDF or national service and did not receive an exemption from service will have to pay full tuition.

OCTOBER 30, 2014ByLAHAV HARKOV
ULTRA-ORTHODOX MEN walk past soldiers at the Kotel in Jerusalem