One-third of Israeli Youth Avoid Military Service For ‘Mental Health' Reasons

Israeli soldiers carry their belongings in an area near the Israel-Lebanon border on January 29, 2015. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israeli soldiers carry their belongings in an area near the Israel-Lebanon border on January 29, 2015. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
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One-third of Israeli Youth Avoid Military Service For ‘Mental Health' Reasons

Israeli soldiers carry their belongings in an area near the Israel-Lebanon border on January 29, 2015. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israeli soldiers carry their belongings in an area near the Israel-Lebanon border on January 29, 2015. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

As Israeli General Yitzhak Barik continues to warn that the army isn’t prepared for a new war, a leaked report revealed Sunday that one-third of the Israeli males and 44% of females avoid being drafted into the military.

Army chief of staff Aviv Kochavi ordered to set up an emergency plan to tackle this situation. The report, which was published in Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, said the phenomenon of dodging conscription has widely spread.

To avoid the mandatory service, Israelis rely on a military law that allows recruits to receive an exemption on grounds of medical or health issues. According to Israeli law, any individual whose health standard is less than 21 points is exempted from the military service.

Some pretend to be suffering from anoia or disability to score low grades; an act seen by the Israeli army as extremely dangerous.

Army Personnel Directorate Head Maj Gen Moti Almoz dispatched a letter to the mental health officers over the matter, stressing that any exemption over an individual’s mental health should be made on professional and responsible bases.

The newspaper noted that the number of evaders continues to rise. In 2007 it was recorded at 25% and then it rose gradually from 26.9% in 2015 to 30% in 2018, reaching 32.9% last year.

Meanwhile, as one-third of youths get a mental exemption, a total of 15% of soldiers escape from the army during their service. The statistics indicate that around half of the Israeli youths don’t serve in the army or don’t finish their military service.

The newspaper also published a confidential report revealing that the 319th military intelligence battalion suffers a huge shortage which makes it incapable of stepping into battles. There is also a shortage of military vehicles that are used to transfer equipment.

Barik commented over the soldiers’ complaints, saying that they don’t want to admit that the army isn’t prepared for war.



Hegseth Keeps 2 Aircraft Carriers in Middle East for Another Week for Battle with Yemen’s Houthis

Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP)
Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP)
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Hegseth Keeps 2 Aircraft Carriers in Middle East for Another Week for Battle with Yemen’s Houthis

Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP)
Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier to remain in the Middle East for a second time, keeping it there another week so the US can maintain two carrier strike groups in the region to battle Yemen-based Houthi militias, according to a US official.

In late March, Hegseth extended the deployment of the Truman and the warships in its group for a month as part of a campaign to increase strikes on the Iran-backed Houthis. The official said Hegseth signed the latest order Thursday and it is expected the Truman and its strike group warships will head home to Norfolk, Virginia, after the week is up.

Gen. Erik Kurilla, head of US Central Command, requested that the Truman be extended again, according to officials. The San Diego-based USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and its strike group arrived in the region a few weeks ago and are operating in the Gulf of Aden. The Truman, along with two destroyers and a cruiser in its strike group, is in the Red Sea.

The officials spoke Friday on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.

The US has increased its attacks on the Houthis, launching daily strikes since March 15, when President Donald Trump ordered a new, expanded campaign. He promised to use "overwhelming lethal force" until the Houthis stop their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, a vital trade corridor.

According to Central Command, the US has been waging an "intense and sustained campaign" against the Houthis. In a statement over the weekend, the command said the US has struck more than 1,000 targets in Yemen since Operation Rough Rider began. It hasn't provided details on the targets or how the data is compiled.

It has been rare in recent years for the US to have two aircraft carriers in the Middle East at the same time. Navy leaders have generally been opposed to the idea because it disrupts ship maintenance schedules and delays time at home for sailors strained by the unusually high combat tempo.

If there are no additional extensions and the Truman and its warships leave the region next week, those sailors could be back home by next month.

Last year, the Biden administration ordered the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier to remain in the Red Sea for an extended time as US warships waged the most intense running sea battle since World War II. Prior to that, it had been years since the US had committed that much warship power to the Middle East.

The Houthis had been waging persistent missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group's leadership has described as an effort to end Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

From November 2023 until this January, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. That has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually.

The group paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the US launched a broad assault against the militants in mid-March.