IDF Sends 14K More Draft Orders to Haredi Men

Speaking to the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, a senior Israel Defense Forces officer in charge of encouraging ultra-Orthodox enlistment said that the IDF would soon be sending out 14,000 more draft orders to members of the Haredi community.

Asked if the IDF would reach its goal of 4,800 Haredi recruits over a year with the next wave of draft orders, Lt. Col. Avigdor Dickstein said, “no.”

Dickstein told the committee that on March 13, a first wave of 5,000 draft orders will be sent out; on April 6, there will be another wave of 4,000; and on May 4, there will be a third wave of 5,000.

Of the total, 9,1 00 would be randomly sent to Haredim who are eligible for military service, while the other 4,900 will be sent to those the IDF assumes will actually show up at the induction center. They include those who are working, are students of higher education, or hold driver’s licenses — indicators that they are not in full-time yeshiva learning.

This past year, some 70,000 Haredi males were listed as eligible for military service.

The orders, which constitute the first stage in the screening and evaluation process that the army carries out for recruits ahead of enlistment in the military in the coming year, come after a landmark High Court ruling in June 2024 that said there was no longer any legal framework allowing the state to refrain from drafting Haredi yeshiva students into military service.

Between July 2024 and this month, the IDF sent out 10,000 initial draft orders to members of the Haredi community in several waves. So far, only 177 of them have so far enlisted in the military. Some are still in the process of enlisting.

Dickstein told the committee that 2,231 second draft orders were sent to those who did not show up at induction centers after receiving a first order.

Over 1,000 “arrest warrants” were issued against those who ignored the second draft order. The IDF Military Police does not plan to actually carry out arrests but instead wait until they are declared “draft evaders” and leave it to law enforcement.

After receiving an arrest warrant, those recruits will receive an immediate call-up order, and if they ignore it, they will be declared as draft evaders. The consequences of being declared a draft evader include receiving a “no exit order” — being barred from leaving the country — and during any encounter with the police, the draft dodger can be arrested.

So far, 265 Haredim out of the 10,000 have been declared draft evaders, Dickstein said.