Israel Cracks Down on Military Dodgers | Newsweek Periscope | Newsweek.com - 0 views
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authorities say New Profile and another group, Target 21, offer detailed tips on their Web sites about how to evade mandatory military service. Potential draft dodgers "ought to speak softly or stumblingly" at interviews with Army psychiatrists, one post on Target 21 suggests. "A downcast look, a weak tone of voice and obsessive playing with your gun" can also help, the group counsels.
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Draft dodging—particularly by women—is on the rise in Israel. According to a recent military report, roughly 44 percent of all eligible women failed to enlist last year, compared with only about one third 20 years ago.
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To stem the tide of dodgers, the military has begun hiring private investigators to try to determine "what kind of [religious] life they're leading … whether they're out at a disco on a Friday night or driving on the Sabbath," says Lt. Col. Gil Ben-Shaul, an Israeli personnel officer. Some of the activists blame the tough new tactics on Israel's new minister of internal security, Yitzhak Aharonovitch, a member of the hardline Yisrael Beytenu party. (A spokesman for Aharonovitch says the minister approves of the raids but did not order them.)