More than two thirds of young men from Samaria who join the IDF serve in combat units. IDF statistics show that 67.1% of the young men who enlist serve in combat, as opposed to the national average of 39.5%.
81.2% of Samaria’s draft-age men join the IDF after completing high school, after Hesder yeshiva studies or after a attending a pre-military preparatory academy. The national average is 74.8%.
Additional men enlist later, after several years’ study in a high yeshiva.
One of six soldiers who grew up in Samaria is an officer. This is twice the national average of 6.3%.
IDF Personnel Branch Head Maj. Gen. Orna Barbivai reported the statistics to Samaria regional authority head Gershon Mesika and sent him a letter expressing her appreciation for Samaria’s contribution to the IDF.
Mesika said that the youth in Samaria “is educated upon the values of settling the Land of Israel and is a daily participant in making Zionism a reality, and therefore it is no wonder that it leads and is the country’s spearhead in the military sphere as well.”