Gadi Eisenkot said that implementing a law for mandatory service for all “is a moral imperative. Only it will return Israel to the right path, and safeguard Israel’s security.”
Twenty haredi (ultra-Orthodox) air force technicians were recruited last week at Tel Nof Air Force Base, following a two-month technician training course at a base in Haifa, the IDF announced on Sunday.
Following a two-month technician training course at a base in Haifa, the 20 haredim will begin working on F-15 aircraft in the 106th Squadron.
This is the first religious data center on the base.
The IDF is working to allow haredim to maintain their way of life while also completing mandatory military service, as Israel’s military manpower crisis is expected to deepen unless legislation extending mandatory service advances separately from the haredi draft bill. The IDF faces a widening gap between wartime operational needs and the number of soldiers available to meet them.
The army is operating across multiple arenas while also dealing with heavy casualties, high reserve use, and growing erosion among both regular and reserve forces.
Many reservists who once served far more limited periods have been called up repeatedly since the war began, with annual reserve burdens now reaching roughly 80 to 100 days for some combat soldiers.
HAREDI MEN protest against the jailing of yeshiva students who failed to comply with an IDF draft order, in May 2026. (credit: Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90)
Officials warn of manpower crisis if haredi draft is not enforced
In March, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, warned that the IDF will collapse due to lack of manpower, and raised “ten red flags.”
Former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot (leader of Yashar) said that implementing a law for mandatory service for all “is the need of the hour. It is a moral imperative. Only it will return Israel to the right path, fulfill the IDF’s mission, and safeguard Israel’s security.”
Reservist Party leader Yoaz Hendel stated, “The chief of staff is right. Listen to him. Victory requires soldiers. The government repeatedly uses the reservists as a resource and wears them down to the limit.”
“Even if they [the government] told the cameras that they froze the draft evasion law, in practice they continue to transfer money to institutions that encourage evasion and do not enforce the existing law,” Hendel added.