IDF refusal

IDF expected to resume draft evader operations as High Court deadline approaches

Military prosecutors said they were advancing measures to shorten the evasion period before criminal charges may be filed from 18 months to one year.

Illustrative: Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men block a road and clash with police during a protest against the jailing of yeshiva students who failed to comply with Israeli military draft orders, in Jerusalem, August 2, 2026.
An Israeli soldier guard as young men gathered during a demonstration by Ultra-Orthodox Jews against Israel's military draft on June 17, 2026 outside the Beit Lid military base in Kfar Yona, Israel. The conscription of young ultra-Orthodox men into the military, from which they were long exempt.

Likud MK Kallner opposes criminal arrests for haredi draft evaders, backs economic sanctions

HAREDI MEN protest against the jailing of yeshiva students who failed to comply with an IDF draft order, in May 2026.

The price tag of opting out of the IDF - opinion

HAREDIM BLOCK a road to protest the arrest of yeshiva students who failed to comply with an army recruitment order, near Bnei Brak, on Monday.

IDF should conscript Arabs to serve instead of haredi draft dodgers - opinion


US military chief to visit Israel amid IDF reservist crisis

Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, hopes to gain a better first-hand view of how the crisis is impacting the Israeli military as well as joint US security interests.

U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark A. Milley holds a news conference on the day of a NATO Defence Ministers' meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium June 15, 2023.

IDF to Knesset: Deeply worried about the readiness for war

Air Force and military intelligence are the critical units that have been harmed most severely.

The Israeli Air Force works to fight new and developing threats across the region

Grapevine August 16, 2023: Cut the talking

Movers and shakers in Israeli society.

 PRESIDENT ISAAC HERZOG receives from Michael Oren his visionary book ‘2048: The Rejuvenated State.’

Israel sorely needs reliable information on judicial reform effects - analysis

Eight months into Israel’s toxic debate over the judicial overhaul plan, it is emerging that in some cases honest information is being kept from the public and the decision-makers.

Anti-judicial reform demonstrators protest against the judicial reform in Haifa, on July 20, 2023.

Netanyahu, Gallant defend top army brass under fire on reservist refusal

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant urged people criticizing the IDf to come after him, while David Amsalem called for those behind protests to be imprisoned for life.

 Defense Minister Yoav Gallant seen at the IDF induction center in Tel Aviv on August 13, 2023

Has the IDF's people's army model collapsed? - opinion

A volunteer civilian army is possible only when a shared core of social values exists among citizens. But deepening social and political tensions has threatened this system.

 RESERVISTS SIGN a statement that they will not continue serving, as part of the protest against the judicial overhaul, in Tel Aviv, last month. The blue placard reads: ‘There cannot be a people’s army without democracy.’

What does Syria attack mean for impact of IDF reservist strike? - analysis

Did the likely IDF attack on Syria prove that somehow the air force is still able to carry out all of the many security needs the country relies on it on?

Smoke and flames rise over the Syrian border town of Kobani after an airstrike, October 20, 2014

New IDF recruits start service in shadow of judicial reform debate

Maj.-Gen. Yaniv Asur: We have much more in common and which connects and unites us, along with love and kinship, than there is which separates and divides us.

Young Israelis arrive to the Israeli army recruitment center at Tel Hashomer, outside of Tel Aviv on March 17, 2020.

Most Israelis prefer compromise on judicial reform - poll

The new polling data from the Israel Democracy Institute shows that while most coalition voters support the reform and most opposition voters oppose it, most overall want compromise.

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Unity leader MK Benny Gantz are seen moving to shake hands in the Knesset amid the vote on the controversial reasonableness standard bill, in Jerusalem, on Monday, July 24, 2023.

IDF not ready for war, warns former Israeli military ombudsman

"Even today the army is disintegrating, after the volunteering is stopped it will be crushed," warned the former IDF official.

Maj.Gen.(Res.) Yitzhak Brick in National Criticsm Committee, December 12th, 2018.