JERUSALEM (JTA) — Some 25 percent of military-age men do not join the Israeli army, Israel’s Cabinet was told during a discussion on curbing draft evasion.
In addition, 40 percent of women do not serve — 30 percent for religious reasons and 10 percent who are married, abroad or have a medical condition.
Many religiously observant women do national service, but those figures were not included in the discussion, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Of the men who evade service, 13 percent receive deferments to study in yeshiva, 5 percent receive a deferment for a medical issue or because they are abroad, and 7 percent are turned down by the army.
The Cabinet established a committee to find ways to reduce the number of women falsely claiming a religious lifestyle to evade army service.
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