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About 70 percent of conscripts serving time in military jails come from poor families and receive financial badistance from the military, a senior officer in Haaretz said.
Public figures and IDF officers recently lashed out at the army for sending poor soldiers to jail in order to expel them from the army. According to military sources, while a controversial new bill exempts ultra-Orthodox men from enlisting, poor soldiers are sent to jail.
Others criticize the widespread imprisonment of poor soldiers. "The Israeli army needs to do much more to solve the problem," said Itzik Shmuli (Zionist Union) MP, who has held several debates on the issue.
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"In the last debate, we found that to a certain extent, the IDF have turned the prison into a mechanism to get rid of these soldiers, he sends them once or twice to prison and then releases them for incompatibility, "he said. "It's a simplistic solution that also stains these soldiers in civilian life," he says.
According to the Israeli army, the number of imprisoned soldiers has increased from some 18,000 in 2015 to around 10,000 in 2017. A large proportion of these soldiers are sent to prison for crimes related to the poverty of their soldiers. families. About 40 percent of them are jailed for desertion and 21 percent for going AWOL. These soldiers fled the army mainly to work to help their families make a living, the officer added.
Shifra Shahar, head of the NGO A Warm Home, who helps soldiers stricken by poverty, says that despite the promises of the army, there has been no rate improvement imprisonment of soldiers in need.
"I tell young people from poor families not to join the army," she says. "To be an IDF soldier, you must have a family that supports you.The chance of a young person from a poor family to end up in a military prison is much higher than a soldier of middle clbad or higher.The first will face jail and discharge from the army, something that he will carry with him for life. "
The soldiers who deserted or went to say that they had to do it to work. "I work in catering and most of my work is done in the summer, there is an event every day," says a soldier. "I can not afford to miss this, even at the cost of going to jail, my family lives a long time with this money."
Another soldier wrote in a soldiers forum that he was thinking of surrendering. He had left because of the depression and poverty of his family.
According to a poll conducted by the Dialog Polling Center among 650 conscripts and submitted to the Knesset in May, a quarter of the soldiers work for a living during their military service, averaging 18 hours a week.
In February of this year, the IDF released a document detailing its treatment of needy conscripts. The paper badumes that the poverty rate in the military is equal to that of Israeli society. However, the figures in the document show that the military does not provide enough support to needy soldiers so that they do not have to work.
"When the army does not increase its support and responds to the need for badistance of these soldiers, the soldier must choose between the existence of his family and a useful service," says MK Shmuli, using a term, "meaningful service," This refers to combat and intelligence. "Israel has the highest poverty rates in the West and the Israeli army will have to deal with it if it wants to preserve it as a people's army," he said. added.
On average, the help of the army to soldiers from poor families is 929 shekels ($ 255) a month. Only 4% of these soldiers reported receiving support from some NGOs, with two-thirds receiving badistance once a month and one-third receiving timely badistance.
The survey also revealed that a quarter of the soldiers surveyed said they were uncovered on their bank account.
Soldiers who are most in need and who are sent to a military prison usually serve at headquarters or in auxiliary combat positions.
Recently, a soldier wrote in a soldiers forum: "I defected because I was really depressed recently at the base for economic reasons, and the base is really far from my home , and I had a bad time. The mental health worker ignores me. "
The soldier, of Ethiopian descent, was thinking of surrendering and asking forum members what to expect in a military prison.
In recent years, following severe criticism of the high rate of Ethiopian soldiers sent to prison, the military has taken steps to reduce these numbers. Despite the gradual decline in the number of imprisoned soldiers of Ethiopian origin, their number among military prisoners is still significantly higher than their proportion in society.
In May, the Brigadier General. Eran Shani, Head of the Division of Planning and Human Resources Management of the IDF Personnel Branch, participated in a panel discussion to implement the government's plan for integrating IDPs. 39, Ethiopian origin.
"There are fewer soldiers in prison in general, and fewer soldiers of Ethiopian origin in prison," said Shani. "If in 2014 there were 795 soldiers of Ethiopian origin in prison, then in 2017 there are 630."
However, Ethiopian Jews make up 2% of Israel's Jewish population, and Shani's figures place their proportion of the military prison population at more than 6% for 2017 – and figures on Ethiopian Jewish soldiers in prison much lower than those that the IDF gave to Haaretz.
Another problem is that imprisonment in the military is a way to expel soldiers, especially the needy, from the army. The "problematic" soldier goes to prison once or twice and is then released for reasons of incompatibility or disciplinary problems.
According to the annual report of the military mediator, the IDF is not doing enough and the commanders do not visit their soldiers in prison to help them and help them return to their unit after their release, as require military orders.
The military spokesman replied: "The Israeli army is the people's army and the socio-economic status of its soldiers reflects the general population." The army did not d & # 39; Indication of the status of the soldier when recruited, unless he asks for badistance.In 2017, 10,240 soldiers were imprisoned, of whom 3,795 sought badistance and 921 requests were During the first half of this year, 5191 people were imprisoned, of whom 1,066 requested badistance and 367 applications were accepted.The number of soldiers sent to prison has decreased over the years. request for a soldier who requests or needs badistance is reviewed by the relevant officials. "
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