The meeting held recently in Bnei Brak between Major General David Zini, head of Training Command and Commander of the 446 Corps, Brigadier General Shay Taib, and Rabbi David Leibel, for the establishment of a haredi Brigade in the IDF, is just the tip of the iceberg of long negotiations between these parties to promote haredi IDF recruitment. Spoiler: No haredi brigade will come from this.
The meeting ended in chaos and forced police to rescue the generals from a fury of young haredi men who slandered Zini and Taib as murderers. But that is not the whole story. Yes, there's another scheme behind the scenes. What the IDF is doing now with the Haredim is not legitimate recruitment, but phony recruitment.
An agreement has been formed between the parties and the overarching principle is to ensure that no haredi yeshiva student or kollel member is recruited. The recruits will only come from the group of those who are not engaged in Torah study.
The original intention was to recruit 1,200 haredim in this cycle, but the number was raised to 1,800. For this to happen, three times as many orders will be sent, assuming about a third will agree to enlist - which totals to 5,400 draft orders.
To whom will the orders be sent? For this purpose, three criteria have been formulated
1. 750 draft orders for ages 18-21 will be sent, only to those who are married, provided they were caught at least twice absent or truant from the yeshiva or institution where they study. In other words, a married man who is not in yeshiva full time. This targets haredi men who are not committed yeshiva student. 2. 480-500 draft orders for ages 21 to 23 will be sent to married men with children, who reported to the National Insurance Institute, meaning they are working and own smartphones. This would likely impact men on their way out of the haredi movement.3. Approximately 650 draft orders for haredim with truck driver's licenses.
Recruitment loopholes stop IDF service for haredi men
The agreement between the army and Rabbi Leibel will mean that no yeshiva student will ever truly be recruited. All the recruits will be married and none of them will join combat units. Married men with children will not become fighters - they mainly become a financial burden on the army.
The expected effect of this new regulation is a massive escape of young haredi men back to yeshivas and studying full time. This will be a better outcome than them joining the army as it will not bring real haredim to the army, but it will reduce the percentage of haredi men participating in the labor market. These men will either stop working and return to the yeshiva, or they will stop reporting their work.
According to sources familiar with the agreement, there is an explicit commitment by the IDF to not recruit any yeshiva students. Why is this a problem? It contradicts the Supreme Court ruling, which ruled that all haredim must be drafted, and economic sanctions should be imposed on those who do not enlist (both on the men and on the yeshivas). Any violation of this principle is a violation of the principle of equality.
The process the IDF is currently conducting contradicts the Supreme Court ruling. If you only take those who are working, or only those who are married, there is no equality to be found. Why not negotiate with the leaders of the secular or religious-Zionist public before recruiting them? The chief of staff, defense minister, the head of personnel, and all the others involved should be questioned. They have a historic opportunity here to do something that is both necessary, right, and just.