Report Exposes Flawed Data Used to Criticize Haredi Community's Financial Burden

A new analysis suggests that widely reported figures claiming Haredi families cost working Israelis NIS 1,700 monthly are significantly inflated, based on flawed methodology from the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI). The IDI's initial research estimated NIS 14.9 billion in subsidies for the Haredi community regarding security, a figure that was amplified by politicians like Yair Lapid, who claimed each working family pays NIS 1,700 monthly due to Haredi draft evasion.

Following public outcry and an inquiry by MK Yitzhak Pindrus, the "Mashrokit" fact-checking desk at Globes admitted an error, reducing the figure to NIS 144. However, the analysis obtained by "Kikar HaShabbat" indicates Globes relied on a subset of the IDI's data (NIS 3.8 billion) without proper correction. This subset includes costs not directly related to the non-service of Haredi men, such as Haredi women who are legally exempt from military service like other religious women.

According to the new methodological analysis, only about NIS 1.9 billion of the NIS 3.8 billion is attributable to Haredi men's non-service. When isolating this specific cost, the monthly burden per working family is closer to NIS 72, a figure less than half of the NIS 144 initially reported in the correction and a mere fraction of the original NIS 1,700 claim. The Haredi community expresses anger, stating the data has not been fully rectified, and the public damage from the inflated figures persists.