MONGABAY.COM
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
|
|
Israel
Index
Military service in Israel was mandatory, beginning at age
eighteen, for male and female citizens and resident aliens. The
length of compulsory military service has varied according to IDF
personnel needs. In 1988 male conscripts served three years and
females twenty months. New immigrants, if younger than eighteen
years of age upon arrival, were subject to the same terms of
conscription when they reached eighteen. Male immigrants aged
nineteen to twenty-three served for progressively reduced periods,
and those twenty-four or older were conscripted for only 120 days.
Female immigrants over the age of nineteen were exempted from
compulsory service. Immigrants who had served in the armed forces
of their countries of origin had the length of their compulsory
service in Israel reduced.
Exemptions for Jewish males were rare, and about 90 percent of
the approximately 30,000 men who reached age eighteen each year
were drafted. Several hundred ultra-Orthodox students studying at
religious schools, yeshivot (sing.,
yeshiva--see Glossary) followed
a special four-year program combining studies and military duty.
The Ministry of Defense estimated, however, that in 1988 about
20,000 of the most rigidly Orthodox yeshiva students, who felt
little allegiance to Zionism and the Israeli state, were escaping
the draft through an endless series of deferments. From a strictly
military point of view, their value to the IDF would be limited
because of restrictions on the jobs they would be able or willing
to perform. Although the military served kosher food and adhered to
laws of the Jewish sabbath and holidays, secular soldiers were lax
in their observance.
An academic reserve enabled students to earn a bachelor's
degree before service, usually in a specialized capacity, following
basic training; such students reported for reserve duty during
summer vacations. Conscientious objectors were not excused from
service, although an effort was made to find a noncombatant role
for them. The minimum physical and educational standards for
induction were very low to insure that a maximum number of Jewish
males performed some form of service in the IDF. Conscripts were
screened on the basis of careful medical and psychological tests.
Those with better education and physical condition were more likely
to be assigned to combat units. Sons and brothers of soldiers who
had died in service were not accepted for service in combat units
unless a parental waiver was obtained.
Several elite units were composed exclusively of volunteers.
They included air force pilots, paratroops, the submarine service,
naval commandos, and certain army reconnaissance units. Because of
the large number of candidates, these units were able to impose
their own demanding selection procedures. The air force enjoyed
first priority, enabling it to select for its pilot candidates the
prime volunteers of each conscript class. Conscripts also could
express preferences for service in one of the regular combat units.
The Golani Infantry Brigade, which had acquired an image as a
gallant frontline force in the 1973 and 1982 conflicts, and the
armored corps were among the preferred regular units.
Data as of December 1988
|
|