Groundbreaking Poll: 69% of Haredim Reject Military Service, Even in Special Units

A striking survey by the Super Data Institute and Kikar HaShabbat exposes that 69% of the Haredi community opposes military conscription, including tailored units like the Hasmonean Brigade, even amid Israel’s ongoing multi-front wars, including the war in Gaza. Conducted among over 1,700 Haredi participants from Sephardi, Litvak, and Hasidic backgrounds, both students and workers, the poll, analysed in a special Kikar HaShabbat program hosted by Moshe Mans with panelists Avi Widerman, Itche Katzburg, Yossi Levi of Netch Yehuda, and Uri Keidar of Israel Hofshit, highlights deep resistance. This stance is particularly contentious as the nation grapples with the sacrifices of soldiers dying to protect it, while some Haredim remain exempt, fuelling debates over unequal burdens, both in security and economic contribution, especially during wartime.

The survey’s 70/30 trend showed 79% rejecting Haredi service, even in identity-preserving units, with only 22% supporting and 9% undecided. Yossi Levi remarked, “Military service and academia are sometimes seen as obstacles for yeshiva graduates, but support might rise if it targets those not seriously studying Torah.” Concerns about future drafts of Haredi women alarmed 61%, with 28% dismissing the fear and 11% neutral, reflecting rabbinic worries about identity erosion, though Uri Keidar called it a distant issue. A staggering 51% viewed conscription as a covert secularization effort, 36% saw a blend of security and ideology, and only 13% focused on defense needs, underscoring deep fears of external influence.

Opposition to drafting non-studious yeshiva attendees stood at 63%, with 28% in favor and 9% undecided, showing their view against joining the IDF is not rooted in Torah study, while reactions to Haredi soldiers in IDF uniforms varied, some saw normalization, others feared identity loss. Levi found it familiar, while Keidar deemed it civic duty. Amid threats of emigration, 44% might leave if drafted, 26% saw it as distress, and solutions leaned toward 57% favoring full exemptions, 38% selective drafting, and 5% universal conscription. Post the October 7, 2023, Simchat Torah attack, a mere 37% grew open to enlistment, 54% held firm despite watching thousands of Israelis get slaughtered, and 9% were undecided, suggesting gradual shifts tied to rabbinic support and wartime pressures.

Numbers 32:6: Should your fellow Israelites go to war while you sit here?

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֔ה לִבְנֵי־גָ֖ד וְלִבְנֵ֣י רְאוּבֵ֑ן הַאַֽחֵיכֶ֗ם יָבֹ֙אוּ֙ לַמִּלְחָמָ֔ה וְאַתֶּ֖ם תֵּ֥שְׁבוּ פֹֽה?