News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Major General Elazar Stern, head of IDF manpower, said Monday that the government is lax in trying to stop the phenomena of draft dodging among Israeli youth. He did not single out secular youth, but most of those who avoid the draft, except for religious youth learning in Torah institutions, come from secular communities.

He said that many youth declare they have personal or psychological problems but are able to serve. Avoiding the draft has become common on secular kibbutzim, which once were the leaders in serving the country in the army. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's two sons also did not serve in the army.