RAMALLAH, November 7 (JMCC) - Israel's military is struggling with declining conscription rates, reports the
Washington Post. With more and more Israelis exempt from service because they are ultra-Orthodox or live abroad, the very face of the military is changing.
The share of military-age Jewish Israelis who don't serve grew from 12.1 percent in 1980 to 26 percent in 2007, according to a study by Haifa University political scientists published in August. The military projects that figure will reach 43 percent by 2020. And the portion of 11th- and 12th-grade males who said they would volunteer if service was not mandatory was only 58 percent in 2007, compared with 94 percent in 1988, the study found.
Read the feature at the Post...