Strategic Assessment

Scores of articles and studies have been written about the obligation to serve in the IDF Israel Defense Forces (IDF); an obligation which is also a privilege. This has never been a pleasant obligation for all; worse still, at no period has the State of Israel ever implemented this obligation equally on all sectors of Israeli society. While in theory this obligation is placed on all Israeli citizens, in practice, only non-Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jewish, Druze, and Circassian citizens have implemented it in full. Among Haredi Jews and Arab citizens, only a minority serve in the IDF, on a volunteer basis.