Ynet reported on Monday that IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir told National Security Cabinet members recently that they should “give up on some of their fantasies” such as conquering Gaza, due to both the lack of combat soldiers and the fact that “even in the current operation against Hamas, the cabinet will rely solely on IDF soldiers and not on a complementary diplomatic move.”
A cabinet minister said to the Jerusalem Post that the report was a “complete fake,” and a second source also denied the report, calling it “reckless.” A third source, however, said that these comments had "100%" been made to cabinet members.
A number of members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee (FADC) commented on the report, linking it to the government’s failure to increase enlistment numbers from the ultra-Orthodox populace.
"If Hamas were the only mission for the IDF, it is certainly strong and capable enough to handle Hamas,” committee chairman MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud) said. “However, Hamas is not the central threat to the State of Israel at present, and it is certainly not the only one.”
Reservists tired, Haredi draft a necessity
Edelstein continued, “The State of Israel needs a larger army to stand against and defeat all its enemies. Reservists require a stronger army to meet their missions—both in the military and as citizens. As I have said in the past and say now, the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox Jews is not a matter of wishful thinking but a necessity. This is not hatred of the ultra-Orthodox, but love for the state and the land of our forefathers. With God's help, I will not rest until I bring forth a proper, real, and effective draft law,” Edelstein concluded.
MK Moshe Tur-Paz (Yesh Atid), a member of the committee, said, "Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir quickly discovered what every reservist who has experienced a year and a half of combat and hundreds of days in reserve duty already knows: the reservists are collapsing. Prolonged attacks on those who voice this distress will not make it disappear—without the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox Jews, there cannot be a strong Israel for the long term. Our security is in immediate danger."
MK Sharon Nir (Yisrael Beytenu), also a member of the FADC, said, "The government must mandate the enlistment of everyone into the IDF at the age of 18—no tricks, quotas, or targets. The draft-dodging law must be immediately removed from the agenda!"
