Head of the IDF Personnel Directorate Major General Yaniv Asor on Tuesday faced a fierce attack by members at a closed session of the Knesset Foreign and Security Committee on the recruitment of Haredi yeshiva students into the IDF, Reshet Bet Radio reported Wednesday morning. Opposition MKs insisted there was no reason for the army to walk on eggshells when it came to drafting Haredim since this is a real need of the security system which is desperate for manpower, especially during the war.
Asor presented the recruitment targets for the Haredi population in the next two years as 4,800 in the remainder of 2024 and in 2025. The HR chief said that the army is interested in recruiting as many married Haredi men as possible and detailed the age segmentation requested for recruitment in terms of the IDF: 50% up to the age of 21, 40% From the age of 21-24, and another 10% from the age of 24-26.
Asor was asked how it would be possible to conduct screening tests for yeshiva students who didn’t study core curriculum subjects in the Haredi education system. He answered that there are tools for diagnosing candidates from the Haredi population, and noted that there will be adjustments in the tests to meet this challenge. He also guaranteed that only male diagnosticians would be evaluating Haredi recruits at the absorption centers.
MK Moshe Tur Paz (Yesh Atid) suggested it would be a mistake to establish a Haredi brigade because this could create militias. A funny comment from the party behind the proto-fascist Brothers in Arms militia, comprised of strictly secular reservists.
He added that emphasis should be placed not only on the quantity of enlisted Haredi soldiers but also on the quality and that they must arrive to enlist as Haredim, otherwise their society would consider them second-rate.
That ship, alas, left the harbor years ago, circa 2012, when the Supreme Court began messing with the Haredi draft legislation.
Another Genius from Yesh Atid, MK Karine Elharrar-Hartstein, asked if the gender adjustments that the IDF plans to make as part of Haredi recruitment, separating yeshiva graduates from female soldiers, were necessary.
Why not just hand them a ham and cheese sandwich for their first IDF lunch and be done with it?
Shortly before the start of Tuesday’s debate, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced that he would issue conscription orders for the Haredim in the coming month. Major General Asor admitted to the committee members that we still did not know how many conscription orders had been issued.
