According to a report appearing in Yediot Achronot on Wednesday, 24 Menachem Av, there is a reduction in new recruits applying for combat units, which some may attribute to the trial of former IDF Sgt. Elor Azariya. According to the report, there is a decline as compared to the summer induction last year.

It should be noted that this is the lowest point in a decade since the Second Lebanon War. Immediately after the war, there was a decrease in the motivation for combat recruitment, except in 2010, when demand jumped to an 80% peak, but since then there has been only a drop. IDF officials claim that there is no connection between the Elazar Azaria affair and the decrease in motivation for combat. On the contrary, the demand for the Kfir Brigade where Azaria served, broke new records, as did the demand for the Border Patrol, which is also in its possession.

The IDF explains the phenomenon as social change in the country: First, the erasure of the warrior ethos, as well as a clear preference for candidates for service and their parents to join elite technological units fighting cyber, etc., or alternatively, other units in the computer sector and units such as aerial defense (Iron Dome for example) and the Home Front Command.

In March 2017, only 71.5 percent of recruits wanted to serve in combat, compared with 72.5 percent in the corresponding period in 2016. In November 2011, the rate was 69 percent, compared with 71 percent in the equivalent period in 2015.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)