The city with the highest percentage of draftees who volunteer for combat units (57%) is Elad, a chareidi city close to Petach Tikvah. After it is Rosh Ha’ayin (56.8%), Maalot (55.6%), Modi’in (53.5%) and Givat Shmuel (53.3%).
Other chareidi cities have a low percentage of draftees, but of those who do join the draft, a significant percentage choose combat.
For example, in Modi’in Ilit, 16.6% join the draft, but 32.5% of these choose combat service. In the largest chareidi city of Bnei Brak, only 17.4% join the draft, but of these 36.9 go for combat and 2.2% go on to officers’ school. In Beitar Ilit, 18.1% join the draft, but 48.2% choose combat. The number of draftees is particularly low in these cities partially due to the fact that religious girls are exempt from joining the draft.
The city given the highest mark for contributing to the army is Modi’in, which received a 83.4% mark for its high number of draftees, and high number of those who go for combat and become officers. Next in line is Yehud with 82.2%, Givat Shmuel (81.9%), Ness Ziona (81.3%) and Rosh Ha’ayin (80.3%).
The number of those interested in combat service has dropped somewhat. In 2013, it was 70.3%, in 2014 it was 70.8%, and in 2015 71.9%, while this year it was 69.8%.