Overview
- The figures disclosed Tuesday by Yediot Achronot, obtained from an IDF freedom-of-information request, show about 64,000 haredi men failed three summonses and are now classified as draft evaders.
- Under current military rules cases that go unanswered for 540 days can be referred to the Military Advocate General for criminal prosecution, which can lead to three- to six-month prison terms.
- Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has ordered stepped-up enforcement and military officials say proactive arrest operations will resume in coordination with police.
- So far arrests have been a small fraction of those labeled evaders, with IDF data showing roughly 76,000 total draft evaders nationwide but only hundreds of arrests and a low share of haredi indictments this year.
- A proposed cut of the referral window to 365 days and the use of administrative funding sanctions for yeshivas would widen the pool eligible for prosecution and intensify political and communal tensions ahead of national elections.