Israeli opposition chief warns military manpower deficit may spark catastrophic security breach

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Israel’s main opposition leader Yair Lapid accused the government on Thursday of steering the country towards a “security disaster” because of a shortage of combat soldiers.

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“The IDF is stretched to the limit and beyond. The government is leaving the army wounded out on the battlefield,” Lapid said in a televised statement, echoing a warning delivered a day earlier by military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir to the security cabinet, according to Israeli media reports.

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“The government is sending the army into a multi-front war without a strategy, without the necessary means, and with far too few soldiers,” Lapid said.

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Media reports quoted Zamir as telling the security cabinet that “the IDF is on the verge of collapse”.

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Commenting on the troop shortage in a televised briefing Thursday, military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said that “more combat soldiers are needed” on a range of fronts, notably in Lebanon.

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“On the Lebanese front, the forward defensive zone that we are creating requires additional IDF forces,” Defrin said, also mentioning increased needs in the occupied West Bank, Gaza and Syria.

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Lapid said that Zamir told the cabinet that he had reservists doing sixth and seventh rotations.

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“These reservists are worn out and exhausted and can no longer meet our security challenges,” Lapid said.

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“The army does not have enough soldiers for its missions.”

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Lapid called for drafting men from the ultra-Orthodox Haredi community, who since the creation of Israel in 1948 have been exempted from military service.

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Military service is mandatory in Israel, but under a ruling established at the country’s creation — when the ultra-Orthodox were a very small community — men who devote themselves full-time to the study of sacred Jewish texts are given a de facto pass.

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“The government must stop being cowardly, immediately halt all funding for Haredi draft dodgers, send the military police after deserters, and draft the Haredim without hesitation,” Lapid said.

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AFP

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