Conscription and Exemption

2017, regarding those born in 1999
Rate of those enlisted among the total age cohort
47.4%
Rate of those who completed military service among the total age cohort
40%
Rate of those who completed military service amongst Jews in the total age cohort
57.8%

This calculation is based on data from the following sources: Statistical abstract of Israel 2017 no. 68, table 2.3, Population by Population Group, Religion, Sex and Age; Amos Harel, Haaretz, Israeli Army Combating a New Kind of Cyber Threat, Oct 6, 2017; Security-social department candidates for military service, Ministry of Defense, Druze (in Hebrew); Amir Buhbut, Walla, Unprecedented – some 200 Arab-Christians youth will enlist in the IDF this year, Aug 4, 2015 (in Hebrew); IDF spokesperson, Response for information query, March 15, 2018, (in Hebrew).

2018, regarding those born in 2000

Rate of candidates for conscription who were issued conscription order 66.9%

Rate of conscripts among candidates for conscription

Rate of conscripts among those who were issued conscription order

56.3% אחוז המלשבים שהוצא להם צו גיוס-גברים

56.3% Men

70.6% אחוז המתגייסים מקרב המלשבים - גברים

70.6% Men

57.6% אחוז המתגייסים מקרב מקבלי צו גיוס-גברים

57.6% Men

44.7% אחוז המלשבים שהוצא להם צו גיוס-נשים

44.7% Women

56.5% אחוז המתגייסות מקרב המלשבים - נשים

56.5% Women

42.4% אחוז המתגייסים מקרב מקבלי צו גיוס-נשים

42.4% Women

[Source: IDF spokesperson, December 3, 2020, Response for information query of New Profile  – Hebrew]

Exemption before enlistment

Men:

Yeshiva students
15.8%
Medical (including mental health)
7.9%
Staying abroad
2.9%
Criminal record, enlistment threshold, difficulties to adapt, exemption on grounds of consciousness, and death
2.8%
Total
29.4%

Women:

Religious
35.3%
Medical (including mental health)
3.9%
Staying abroad
2.6%
Enlistment threshold
1.2%
Married or deceased
0.5%
Total
43.5%

Exemption during service:

Medical (including mental health)
69.6%
Bad and severe behavior
15.4%
Incompatibility
9.2%
Personal problems
4.1%
Married and pregnant
1.5%
Religious (women)
0.2%
Reasons of consciousness
0.04%
Total
11.4%
Women
28.8%
Men
71.2%

Imprisonment (2018)

9,657 entries of soldiers in regular service into military prison

0 %
of them are men,
and the rest are women
0 %
were imprisoned due to desertion or going AWOL (4,938 and 720 soldiers, respectively)
0 %
(294) were imprisoned due to
declared refusal to enlist

[Source: IDF spokesperson, December 3, 2020, Response for information query of New Profile – Hebrew]

Suicide in the military

[IDF spokesperson, Aug 23, 2020, Response for information query of New Profile (in Hebrew). IDF spokesperson, Dec 22, 2012, Response for information query of the association for freedom of information (in Hebrew). Yaniv Kubovich, Haaretz, A Third of Deaths in the Israeli Army in 2020 Were by Suicide, Jan 4, 2021. Nitzan Rotem, Haaretz, The Fraught Task of Explaining Suicides in the Israeli Army, May 2, 2020. Gili Cohen, Haaretz, More Than a Third of Israeli Army Deaths in 2016 Were Suspected Suicides, Jan 10 2017. Gili Cohen, Haaretz, 7 soldiers committed suicide in 2013 – the lowest in the IDF’s history (Hebrew) Jan 1, 2014. Gili Cohen, Haaretz, IDF Reveals Closely-guarded Statistics on Soldier Suicides, Dec 27, 2012]

Suicide attempts

Between 2016-2018, the Israeli Military documented 158 cases of suicidal attempts (of those, 9 were repeated attempts)

In 34 of such cases, the soldiers were previously diagnosed by the Israeli Military with medical or psychological disabilities

99 of the soldiers were exempt from service following their suicide attempt

[Source: IDF spokesperson, Aug 23, 2020, Response for information query of New Profile – Hebrew]

Sexual assaults in the military 2018

IDF spokesperson, Aug 23, 2020, Response for information query of New Profile (in Hebrew)

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