Globes Newspaper Retracts, Apologizes for Flawed Haredi Draft Exemption Cost Analysis
The Israeli business newspaper Globes has retracted and apologized for a previous economic analysis concerning the financial cost of the ultra-Orthodox exemption from military service. The retraction followed a detailed inquiry by Knesset Member Yitzhak Pindrus of the Degel HaTorah party, which revealed significant methodological flaws in the original calculations.
Initially, Globes' fact-checking initiative, 'HaMashroqit,' had supported claims, including those made by opposition leader Yair Lapid, that every working household in Israel bears a monthly burden of approximately NIS 1,700 due to the lack of military conscription among the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) population. The initial analysis estimated this sum at around NIS 1,420 and rated the claim as largely "correct."
However, Pindrus's inquiry prompted an internal review, leading to a public admission of errors and a dramatic reduction in the statistical disparities. The revised analysis identified two major analytical errors. The first concerned the base sum used: while the original study relied on a NIS 14.9 billion figure from the Israel Democracy Institute that included broader economic impacts of non-employment, the Institute clarified that the direct cost of military service exemption is only NIS 3.8 billion. This includes NIS 1.4 billion for female exemptions, NIS 1.9 billion for male non-conscription, and NIS 0.5 billion for lack of reserve duty.
The second error involved the method of distributing the cost. Instead of dividing the expense broadly, the initial analysis focused only on the top 40% of Jewish non-Haredi households. The corrected calculation distributes the cost across all 2.2 million employed households in the country. Consequently, the revised monthly cost per working household is now estimated at only NIS 144.
Following these corrections, Globes changed the claim's rating from "correct" to "incorrect" and published a formal apology to its readers, thanking MK Pindrus for uncovering the error.
