Exemption from military service in Israel
Exemption from military service in Israel is covered by the Israeli Security Service Law (חוק שירות ביטחון) which states the grounds for exemption from serving in the Israel Defense Forces. Exemptions are given based on the following criteria: Arab citizens of Israel (who make up a little under one-fifth of the country's population) are also exempted from military service; this exemption does not originate via Israeli statutory law, but rather is based on IDF Human Resource Department guidelines, issued under the IDF's discretionary powers pursuant to the law. As a result , Arab Muslims, Arab Christians, and Bedouins are not conscripted, although small numbers of each community voluntarily join the IDF. By contrast, members of Israel's small Druze and Circassian communities are conscripted. Statistics. According to 2007 IDF figures, the largest single group of young (Jewish) Israelis who avoided conscription consisted of women who claim exemptions on religious grounds. This group made up 35% of all women eligible for the draft. Amongst males, the overall percentage of non-participation was 27.7%. This figure included 11.2% for "Torato Omanuto", 7.3% for medical and psychological grounds, 4.7% because of criminal records and 4.2 % because of residing abroad. In 2014, the law changed such that the majority of the Haredi Jews were no longer exempt from the military service. Another law change to grant exemptions again was contested by the High Court in 2017. This ban on exemptions has now theoretically come into force but a lack of government action means nothing has changed in practice. By 2020, about 32.9% of men and 44.3% of women received exemptions from IDF service, and an additional 15% of men dropped out before completing their term of service. Of those who received exemptions, some 44.7% were Haredim , 46.6% were secular, and 8.7% were religious Zionist. There was a noted increase in exemptions granted for reasons of mental health. Non-recruitment. Accordance with section 36 of the Security Service Law, the security minister may exempt certain people from an army service in the IDF, for reasons related to the volume of the military forces or reserve forces, or for reasons related to educational needs, settlement needs, security needs, economy needs, family needs and various other reasons. In accordance with section 5 of the Security Service Law, a medical board is authorized to determine if a candidate is unfit  for national security service. Draft evasion. In 2005 32.1% of the Jewish women did not enlist in the military on religious grounds, and the overall rate of non-enlisted Jewish women has risen to 42.3%. These high rates indicate that refraining from the draft is relatively common, at least among Israeli women. In 2008, the proportion of women who did not enlist rose to 44%, from which 34.6% did not enlist on religious grounds. As a result, the Israeli military tightened the way it handles cases in which Jewish women request an exemption on religious grounds, through investigating the truthfulness  of their claims, in order to expose young women who lied about being religious. Section 94 of the Security Service Law describes another method of draft evasion: defecting from the military on the day of recruitment. When a soldier fails to show up to be recruited he is defined by the military as a draft evader. After being defined as a draft evader, an arrest warrant is issued against him and thereafter the military police is responsible for locating and capturing him. After being caught by the military police, it would be decided whether the draft evader would go through  disciplinary proceedings (which means that they would get a limited punishment and not a criminal record), or whether he or she would face a military court where the punishment is not limited and the criminal conviction is registered. Public censure. Draft evasion is a criminal act and condemned by the majority of Israelis. Among the strongest opponents to the Israeli government policy, a few people support draft evasion, but they are a minority in the Israeli public. After the 2006 Lebanon War media campaigns were organized against draft evasion and to promote enlistment, especially in combat units. Head of Human  Resources Elazar Stern and Defense Minister Ehud Barak were particularly vocal on this subject: Israeli celebrities and public figures who evaded the draft in their youth (mostly before they became famous) have been condemned. Impact on civilian life. An individual's military service is usually a topic of discussion in many job interviews in Israel, and is information job seekers usually would add to their resume. Nevertheless, in 2003 the Regional Court in Tel Aviv declared that the requirement of military service as a precondition to be hired for a position constitutes discrimination and is forbidden if military service is  not relevant for that position. The Israeli Equal Opportunities Act (חוק שוויון ההזדמנויות בעבודה) was revised in the mid 1990s to prohibit employers from asking candidates about their military profile in the IDF. Nevertheless, legally there is as yet no prohibition against questions regarding an individual's military service or the fact that he did not enlist in the military - information which might be used later on as part of the many considerations which would contribute to an interviewer's decision not to hire the individual. In the years, since the Equal Opporunities Act was revised, and despite the changes  in the Israeli public regarding military service, there is still largely a negative attitude toward those who have not served in the IDF. As an example, a substantial proportion of the employment ads in the newspapers state explicitly that only candidates who have carried out "full military service" will be considered for that position.