IDF reveals: Northern councils excel in combat draft

For the first time IDF ranks local, regional council according to enlistment rates and placements

Yoav Zitun|Published: 01.15.13 , 23:54

The IDF Personnel Directorate published on Tuesday its "combative" table ranking for local and regional councils in Israel, two weeks after publishing a similar ranking for cities.

The table ranked 108 councils, from those with the highest enlistment rates all the way down to those who barley send any youths to military service. Leading the chart- the northern regional councils; brining up the rear – the haredi settlement of Immanuel.

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The data is based on enlistment percentages of teenage boys and girls from each council and takes into account the percentage of those recruited to combat units, the percentage of those holding meaningful positions and the number that move on to become of officers.

The ranking takes into account only those who are legally required to enlist and is calculated according to the following manner:

The percentage of boys who enlisted make up 25% of the final ranking; the enlistment of girls, 25%; the percentage of those enlisting to combat units among boys, 20%; the percentage of those who move on to become officers (both sexes), 20%; and the number of those who served in meaningful positions made up the remaining 10% of the final rank.

This is the first time the IDF Personnel Directorate has fully ranked Israel's local and regional councils. Councils whose enlistment fell below 60 people were not included in the tally. For example the Kfar Shmaryahu Local Council sent only 11 youths to enlist last year.

Among the first six places, five are regional councils from the north: The Upper Galilee Regional Council topped the list with 92.3% enlistment, of which 79% enlisted to combat units.

Combat training (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

Lehavim Local Council, near Beersheba, ranked second; the Misgav Regional Council near Karmielhird ranked third; Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council near Mount Hermon was fourth, and the Kfar Vradim Local Council, also in the north, rounded up the top five.

Ranking last was the haredi settlement of Immanuel, the settlement of Elkana was second-to-last and the Circassian council of Kfar Kama, was third from the bottom.

The reason for the low ranking of settlements, as well as the Circassian and Druze communities, stems from the fact that in these communities there is no legal requisite for girls to enlist.

Hence, they scored comparatively low despite higher scorings in other parameters.

Thus, for example, Judea and Samaria, as a region, is in the first place in the percentage of enlistment to combat roles. But one of the factors 'lowering' the region's general ranking is the relatively high percentage of haredis exempt from army service (19%, instead of the national 13%).