Conscription in Israel
Conscription in Israel has been in place since the country's independence in 1948, and is limited to Israelis of three ethnicities: Jews, Druze, and Circassians. Under Israeli law, only men are drafted from the Druze and Circassian minority communities, whereas Jewish women are required to serve alongside Jewish men. While Arab citizens of Israel are allowed to enlist voluntarily, they are not conscripted. Exemptions can be made for potential conscripts on religious, physical, psychological, or lawful grounds. , the minimum required length of military service is two years and eight months (with some roles requiring an additional  four months of service) for all conscripted men, and two years (with some roles requiring an additional eight months of service) for conscripted Jewish women. In 2013, 26 percent of all potential conscripts were exempted from military service in the Israel Defense Forces; 13.5 percent for religious reasons, 4 percent for psychological reasons, 2 percent for physical health reasons, 3 percent due to existing criminal records, and 3 percent due to residing abroad. According to the Israeli Defense Service Law, which regulates duties and exceptions, all Israeli citizens who meet the conscription criteria are required to serve once they reach  18 years of age unless they qualify for any of the above-mentioned exemptions. Military service obligation. In 1949, after the founding of the State of Israel, the Defense Service Law gave the IDF the authority to enlist any citizen. Draftees would then be required to show up for the draft in accordance with the military's decision to enlist them. Under this law, the period of service for men was 30 months and for women 18 months (although in accordance with a temporary order from January 10, 1968, six additional months were added to the mandatory service, 36 months  for men and 24 months for women respectively.) The service for men has been reduced to 32 months since 2015. In 2020 the service for men was reduced to 30 months following a decision made in 2016, in 2021 this change was reverted and the reduction in service length was postponed to 2024. The draft requirement applies to any citizen or permanent resident who has reached the age of 18, and in accordance with the law, the individuals who are exempt from the draft are dismissed for various reasons, such as incapability, medical problems, military personnel needs, etc. Many of  the soldiers who complete their mandatory military service are later obligated to serve in a reserve unit in accordance with the military's needs. Economic constraints on the IDF have caused them to reconsider their structure and slowly shift towards a more modern military. A shift towards a professional militia has caused the IDF to adopt more career-oriented attributes, thus becoming more selective than in prior years. Instead of focusing on “role expansion,” Israel, most specifically its government, is focusing on “nation building.” One of the most recent developments is a focus on inclusivity of gay and especially disabled  citizens. Medical profiles. The IDF determines a medical profile for each soldier; according to that profile, the army decides where to assign the draftees. The highest medical profile draftees serve in the five infantry Brigades, Field/Combat Intelligence units, and Combat engineers. The second highest medical profiles are assigned to serve in the Armoured Corps, Artillery, Military Police, Border Police, and Aman. The lowest acceptable level of medical profiles are drafted into the combat support and combat service support Arms, such as the Adjutant Corps, Logistics Corps, and the Ordnance Corps. Draftees with lower than acceptable profiles (Profile 21) and  draftees diagnosed as "not suitable for military service" are fully exempted from military obligations. The highest profile is 97. Exemption from service. Although the conscription is officially compulsory, in practice a significant percentage of the population does not enlist for various reasons. Among other things, recent decades have seen a growing, but still very rare, phenomenon of draft dodging from military service, mainly due to conscience or political reasons (See Refusal to serve in the IDF). Exemptions have come under attack on grounds of fairness, and also because of a perceived shortage of combat personnel. Yeshiva students who declare that  Torah study is their occupation (, "Torato Umanuto") can delay their conscription as long as they continue their studies, under the so-called "Tal Law" (see: Tal Committee). In practice, many of them end up never serving at all. This is a very controversial issue in Israel and key component of religious relations in Israel. Several attempts were made to change the practice, notably the establishment of the Tal committee in 1999, which led to the "Tal Law", implemented in 2002. Yet the "Torato Umanuto" exemption continued largely unchanged. The Tal Law was later ruled unconstitutional in its current form, and  a replacement is needed before August 2012. Most beneficiaries of this exemption are Haredi Jews. Members of the Religious Zionist sector often serve within a separate system called Hesder, a concept developed by Rabbi Yehuda Amital, which combines advanced Talmudic studies with military service in the Israel Defense Forces. The IDF also tends to make the military service easier for recruits at an older age and recruits with families, as well as athletes and musicians of note. From time to time a public debate emerges in Israel around the issue of exemption from military service in Israel. A basic law  of Israel is the Israeli Defense Service Law. It lists the guidelines and regulations of mandated military service in Israel. Some regulation includes age, duties, service requirements, time of service, etc. Chapter 5: Reserve Service: Going Abroad covers the rules and requirements for going on becoming a temporary reserve and going abroad. (a) A person designated for defense service and a person of military age who belongs to the regular forces of the Israel Defense Forces shall not go abroad unless granted a permit from the Minister of Defense. (b) A person of military age the continuance of whose regular  service has been deferred for any reason shall not go abroad during the period of deferment save under a permit from the Minister of Defense. (c) A permit under this section may be unconditional or subject to conditions, including a condition relating to the holder's stay abroad. (e) Where any of the conditions of the permit is not fulfilled, the Minister of Defense may revoke the permit and may direct him, by order, to return to Israel within the time prescribed in the order. (f) The Minister of Defense shall not exercise his power under subsection (e) before he  has given the holder of the permit an opportunity to state his case to him. The IDF had strict restraints on letting individuals go into the reserves, even if just temporarily because of their high risk of attack from neighboring states. Through the dissolution of partnerships and peace treaties in recent years, that threat has reduced considerably. Consequently, the high demand for IDF soldiers has slightly decreased as well. Draft process. The military draft process occurs in the following steps: The Army calls upon a potential soldier in a letter and this is called the "First Calling" or Tzav Rishon . This letter states that the teenager must report to a certain place at a certain time for a day-long examination and interviewing. After careful looking over of the Tzav Rishon's results the army will call the people to enlist when they turn a certain age to begin the army process and basic training. Deferment. There are various routes which allow the draftees to postpone the date of recruitment. An automatic postponement is granted for student to graduate from high school. Additional routes which lead to the postponing of the recruitment: Incompatibility and adjustment difficulties. During the drafting process  sometimes draftees get exempted from the draft because of incompatibility. Sometimes the incompatibility of an individual is determined later on during his or her military service, and leads to dismissal from the army. The incompatibility may stem from various reasons: When there is a surplus of recruits, the military often raises the threshold required of recruits, and grants an exemption due to incompatibility to a much larger number of recruits. In addition, there is a widespread phenomenon of granting exemption from military service because of incompatibility to female candidates who were identified as having a low medical profile and/or low  motivation to serve. In such cases the reason for the exemption would usually be stated as: "Excess of female recruits." The IDF can also determine that a draftee has adjustment difficulties. A soldier with adjustment difficulties would not serve as a combat soldier. Volunteering. A draftee found unfit for military service may still choose to volunteer for military service; their status will be similar to all the other draftees found to be fit for service. Once enlisted, these volunteers cannot choose to quit the military early. Civilian national service. There is an alternative voluntary civilian national service in Israel  for those that cannot or do not wish to serve in the Israel Defense Forces. Most participants are Jewish women from the Religious Zionist sector. Future. The IDF has reportedly concluded that it will, at some point in the future, have to end conscription in favor of an all-volunteer force. Reasons include growing unpopularity of military service among Israeli youth, a growth in draft-dodging, and budgetary constraints that would prevent the IDF from conscripting all those eligible even if draft-dodging were not an issue. Israel is reportedly studying how the United States and European nations ended  conscription and transitioned to all-volunteer forces, for a possible future transition.