IDF Allows Chareidim To Serve In All Positions

i24 News – The IDF will allow chareidi recruits to serve in all positions in the military, including in intelligence roles and units with non-chareidi troops, under a new policy. The policy will allow chareidi recruits to have the opportunity to postpone their draft to complete core studies to improve their qualifications.

Also, before their discharge, chareidim will be allowed to take part in a special training program, assisting them to take part in civil society afterward.

Each year, hundreds of recruits who have been raised in religious communities are enlisted into the army without having the proper education due to lower standards in secular education topics within certain chareidi school systems.

Statistics from the Education Ministry in 2014 showed that only 22 percent of chareidi students take matriculation exams, and only 8 percent of those students pass.

In comparison, 65.5 percent of all Israelis had completed their matriculation requirements.

Until now, the lack of education resulted in many chareidi soldiers serving in jobs where they did not use their full potential.

However, in 2021, the IDF Planning and Personnel Directorate implemented a new policy on drafting soldiers from chareidi schools, aiming to make it possible for both “drop-outs” of these communities as well those adhering to strict religious practice to serve in the military.

Currently, the chareidim make up just 13 percent of Israel’s population. However, the population is expected to double within the next 16 years, according to a study by the IDI.