Some Demographics

March 3, 2009

One of the most noticeable sights in Israel is the prevalence of young men and women soldiers, many of them with their service rifles strapped over their backs. Where we in the U.S. have workers with briefcases or laptops waiting at train stations, in Israel there are soldiers with their weapons. The train station at Tel Aviv University is always crowded at about 8 a.m., when I am heading to Bet Yohoshua, but on Sundays, it is so crowded that often there are not enough seats on the train. The reason is that soldiers are returning to their bases after Shabbat. In Israel’s citizen army, training takes place during the week and then many soldiers return to their family homes for Shabbat and holidays. This ritual is so ingrained that there are several programs to provide “homes” for soldiers from the U.S., Europe, or elsewhere who do not have families in Israel with which to stay. There must be some type of rotation so that the entire army is not at home on Shabbat.

When young men and women turn 18, they enter the army for 3 and 2 years, respectively. Deferments are becoming a source of concern, however. Last year, 25.8% of men and 44% of women did not enlist. According to the IDF the percentage of men claiming draft deferments to study in a yeshiva (an Orthodox school) rose from 4.9% in 1991, to 10.9% last year and is expected to rise to 11.8% by 2012. The percentage of women claiming exemptions rose from 21.3% to 34.6% last year. These percentages are increasing because the birthrate among the Orthodox community is higher than the secular rate of 2-3 births per woman. Arab fertility rates have continued to decline from over 9 births in the 1960s to 3.6 in 2006.

In order for women to receive an exemption, all they need to do is sign a declaration. The high rate of exemptions prompted the IDF to hire private investigators to tail girls suspected of falsifying their claims, uncovering over 500 who were photographed kissing men or violating the Sabbath, behaviors that undermine a claim of Orthodox belief.

Why are these figures a concern? Not the kissing men, but the increase in deferments. Israel is a small country. In 2008 there were only 117,000 Jewish births and 39,000 Arab births. Arabs do not serve in the IDF. There must be enough enlistees out of each cohort to sustain the IDF as an effective force in defense of Israel. A second concern is that the IDF has long been the major pathway into adult Israeli society, an important homogenizing and skill-building force in a country of immigrants. This is why there has been increasing discussion of the need for some type of mandatory national service for Jews and Arabs, to provide opportunities for entrée into adult society, when the military is not an option. This proposal has sparked opposition and protest among the Arab population where many are ambivalent, if not outright opposed, to the idea of supporting an Israeli state. On the other hand, the presence of a single primary pathway, i.e., the IDF, that officially excludes Arabs cannot enhance the sense of belonging among the Arab community, which constitutes about 20% of the population of Israel.