Officials in the IDF Personnel Branch report that the last induction of new recruits, March 2013, lacked sufficient recruits willing or suited to serve in combat units. Officials admit that generally, there are fewer inductees volunteering for combat posts or qualified to serve as combatants than required, but this time around the number of vacant slots is larger than in the past, attributed to decreasing numbers of inductees. The reason quoted by the daily Maariv is the lack of new recruits, adding this will change by 2016, when a larger sector of the chareidi community will be included in the IDF draft.
At present the military lacks 100-300 combatants but they are confident the void will be filled in the coming months.
The report adds that based on officials involved in the induction process, the March 2013 induction involved 500 new recruits.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
Is this lack of new recruits across all sectors respectively even?
1. So, the hilonim don’t think their country is worth fight for?
2. So why don’t they offer better pay?
3. So why not make the military more encouraging for religious Jews (e.g. dismiss the general who required listening to female singers as a condition of becoming an officer, ban “pritsus” while on duty, etc.)?