The IDF has a severe manpower shortage, and there are tens of thousands of draft evaders, Brig.-Gen. Shai Tayeb, head of the IDF Planning Directorate, said on Wednesday.
He made his remarks at a session of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that was deliberating the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) draft bill. Advancement of the controversial bill has been stalled for months.
The renewed discussions came amid the crisis in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition with the haredi parties over the legislation and shortly before the vote on the bill to dissolve the Knesset over the matter, which has been approved in a preliminary reading.
Tayeb said 12,000 soldiers were needed to fill the manpower gap. By January 2027, when enlistees for 30 months of service will be discharged, this gap is expected to widen to about 17,000, he said.
The number of recruits is also rising due to sanctions imposed on draft evaders, Tayeb said, adding that a significant number of potential enlistees are avoiding service.
“We are soon expected to reach around 80, 000 to 90,000 draft evaders,” he said.
No updated outline of the draft bill was provided to the MKs ahead of the committee meeting. Tayeb said he had not seen a new outline that differed significantly from the previous versions discussed in dozens of earlier meetings.
The committee discussed two bills in preparation for their second and third readings: the haredi draft bill and a separate bill that extends mandatory military service from about 30 months to 36 months.
The government was requesting that the legislation proceed with the current outline for its second and third readings, cabinet secretary Yossi Fuchs told the MKs.
MKs and reservists attending the session clashed with committee chairman Boaz Bismuth (Likud), who has been advancing the bill.
Former committee chairman Yuli Edelstein (Likud), who was ousted from his position in July, criticized the bill.
“I think this is a discussion that could bury right-wing rule in the State of Israel, and I say this as a right-wing person,” he told the committee. “Anyone who is now calling on my colleagues and me, saying that out of responsibility to the national camp we must support this law, I say the exact opposite.”
Advancing the bill was believed to be Netanyahu’s final effort to persuade the haredi parties not to vote in favor of dissolving the Knesset, which would set in motion a process to move the election date slightly forward from October 27.
Netanyahu's final effort against dissolving the Knesset
The coalition tensions began last Tuesday, after Netanyahu told the haredi parties the bill did not have enough support within the coalition to pass. This led Shas and United Torah Judaism to push for the Knesset’s dissolution.
The haredi parties want the election to take place in September, ahead of the High Holy Days, to increase haredi voter turnout, according to media reports.
Netanyahu was said to oppose the move and instead sought to keep the election in late October, allowing the coalition more time to advance legislation during the Knesset’s final session and potentially achieve military goals.
Despite plans to resume advancing the draft bill, Degel Hatorah MK Moshe Gafni and the faction’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Dov Lando, on Sunday said they remained in favor of dissolving the Knesset.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel (New Hope-United Right) on Sunday told The Jerusalem Post coalition MKs were under massive pressure to support the haredi draft bill. One aspect of the pressure was the threat to “publicly shame Likud members who vote against the law,” she said.
Another Likud source familiar with the matter told the Post the Prime Minister’s Office, over the weekend, had been counting coalition MKs who are expected to support the bill while holding talks aimed at securing a majority.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid on Monday said any Likud MKs who support the haredi draft bill due to pressure from Netanyahu “will not fall under the radar.”
“We will buy billboards all across the State of Israel, and if you support this law, on every corner of the country there will be a sign with your face on it, and underneath it will be written, ‘Supported draft evasion from the IDF during wartime,’” he said.
Highly controversial bill, which critics say is intended to appease ultra-Orthodox factions
Critics of the haredi draft bill say it is primarily intended to appease the haredi parties in the coalition and would do little to increase enlistment. Several coalition MKs have said they would not vote for the bill.
Haredi party leaders have pushed for legislation that would not increase haredi enlistment.
The IDF has repeatedly warned of an urgent manpower shortage, particularly after more than two years of war.
In March, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir said the IDF could soon collapse if there is no solution to the manpower shortage.