Haredi demographics

Likud MK Kallner opposes criminal arrests for haredi draft evaders, backs economic sanctions

Kallner, a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, told 103FM that he does not think arresting yeshiva students is 'the right way.'

An Israeli soldier guard as young men gathered during a demonstration by Ultra-Orthodox Jews against Israel's military draft on June 17, 2026 outside the Beit Lid military base in Kfar Yona, Israel. The conscription of young ultra-Orthodox men into the military, from which they were long exempt.
Avigdor Liberman speaks at a Knesset meeting during the first week of the Israeli Parliament's winter session, October 27, 2025

Equality requires universal draft, participation in economy and workforce, MK Liberman says

 HAREDI JEWS walk in the streets of the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim, in Jerusalem, earlier this month.

Coalition, opposition spar as preliminary vote on haredi daycare bill nears

 ULTRA-ORTHODOX men protest against the haredi draft, in Jerusalem last week.

A country at a crossroads: The issue of Haredi IDF service post-October 7 - analysis


Post-October 7: What does a haredi IDF draft look like?

Pre-October 7, draft exemptions were thought to be a solution to the haredi unemployment rate.

HAREDI MEN protest outside the IDF recruiting office in Jerusalem.

Survey of haredi society shows a community inching toward the norm

In 2002, only about a third of haredi men, and just over half of haredi women, were employed. Those numbers surged between 2003 and 2015.

 View of the main street in the Ultra orthodox town of Bnei Brak, on August 17, 2023.

Majority of Israeli haredim oppose draft despite the war

The survey found that 70% of the ultra-Orthodox have not changed their opinion regarding conscription since the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas.

 Israeli soldiers and Ultra Orthodox Jews pray at a staging area near the Israeli-Gaza border, southern Israel, November 28, 2023.

Israel needs to allow more building permits to haredi municipalities - comptroller

Of Israel's population, an estimated 9.45 million people, around 1.2 million (or 13%) are considered ultra-orthodox.

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish family takes part in the Tashlikh ritual, to symbolically cast away sins, ahead of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, in Ashdod, Israel, October 3, 2022.

Don’t miss the opportunity to integrate haredim in Israel - opinion

Seventy-five years after David Ben-Gurion gave the famous exemption to 400 yeshiva students, the state is again facing a critical juncture.

 CONSTRUCTION AND Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf arrives for a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem.

Separation of religion and state is Israel's most important issue - Liberman

The most important issue in the protest against the judicial reform is the issue of religion and state, said Liberman and attacked the Haredi parties.

 Finance Minister and Israel Beytenu party chairman Avigdor Liberman speaks during a faction meeting at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on December 12, 2022

Myopia in youth can lead to glaucoma, vision loss, retinal detachment, cataracts - Israeli study

Not being exposed to daylight following long hours of study causes short-sightedness, leading to a trend in haredi boys.

 A brown eye

The role of ethnicity in Israel after 75 years - opinion

Only about 5% of Israelis rate ethnic cleavage as the main source of tension in Israel - stronger by far are tensions between Arabs and Jews or Right and Left.

 THE GROOM breaks a glass, the traditional conclusion of a Jewish wedding ceremony. We have witnessed a narrowing of ethnic gaps and greater intermingling of Ashkenazim and Mizrahim, perhaps most significantly in ethnic intermarriage, says the writer.

Israel must legalize gender segregation, Orthodox parties demand

Religious Zionist Party and United Torah Judaism demand to allow segregated events, services and studies for the haredi and Orthodox public.

 A curtain to separate between men and women during shopping, hang on the wall of a fish shop in downtown Jerusalem

Israel is facing a ticking bomb: Haredi unemployment

How will the unemployment rates within the Haredi community impact Israel's future?

 ULTRA-ORTHODOX Jewish men and children in Netanya.