Some 25 percent of military-age men do not join the Israeli army, Israel’s Cabinet was told during a discussion on curbing draft evasion.
In addition, 40 percent of women do not serve — 30 percent for religious reasons and 10 percent who are married, abroad or have a medical condition.
Many religiously observant women do national service, but those figures were not included in the discussion, according to the Jerusalem Post. The Cabinet has established a committee to find ways to reduce the number of women falsely claiming a religious lifestyle to evade army service.
Of the men who evade service, 13 percent receive deferments to study in yeshiva, 5 percent receive a deferment for a medical issue or because they are abroad, and 7 percent are turned down by the army. — jta