Attorney General: Over 67,000 Haredi Men Dodging Draft, Urges Court to Weigh Tougher Sanctions

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara told Israel's High Court of Justice that more than 67,000 ultra-Orthodox men are currently evading military service despite having received conscription orders, according to a report by The Times of Israel. The figure forms part of roughly 110,000 total draft evaders nationwide, with Haredi men accounting for about 21% of that broader pool.

Baharav-Miara's filing noted a gradual rise in enlistment: 2,811 Haredi men joined the IDF during the 2024 enlistment year, climbing to 4,298 in 2025, a roughly 65% increase that officials attributed to expanded accommodation tracks tailored to religious recruits alongside stepped-up enforcement. Even so, the attorney general argued that current enforcement measures are "far from being fully exhausted" and called on the court to consider stripping state benefits from men who continue to ignore enlistment orders.

The filing lands just days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly criticized the arrest of 42 ultra-Orthodox men at Ben Gurion Airport over draft evasion, arguing that such enforcement actions undermine ongoing efforts to negotiate voluntary Haredi enlistment. The 2024 High Court ruling that struck down blanket exemptions for yeshiva students continues to shape the legal battle over how aggressively the state must act against noncompliance.

With the military citing persistent manpower shortages after years of multifront conflict, the dispute over enforcement has become one of the defining fault lines of the campaign heading into the October 27 election.