https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/is ... nlist.html
Chaim Ramon, former justice minister, published a post on Thursday that belied the current narrative that the IDF is desperately in need of Chareidi soldiers.
Ramon wrote. “About two months ago, the Knesset’s Research and Information Center published a document with data on recruitment rates according to population groups.”
“Of all the fascinating data, there was one in particular that made my jaw drop.”
“In the five months after October 7th, about 4,000 Chareidi youth submitted applications to the IDF on their own initiative. Want to know what the IDF, who constantly talk about the ‘urgent’ need for manpower after October 7th, did with them?”
“3,120 Chareidi youth were found ‘unfit,’ mostly due to medical incompetence. Has the IDF stopped recruiting low-profile soldiers for combat support units, intelligence, training, computers, and the Home Front Command? And that’s not even the worst thing.”
“Out of 880 Chareidim who were found eligible, only 540 were recruited. In other words, out of the 4,000 Chareidim who asked to enlist, the IDF recruited only 13.5%, and even out of the Chareidim determined to be fit for service, only 61% were recruited.”
“These numbers strengthen the claim that the IDF is not prepared to recruit masses of Chareidim and in fact, does not want to do so.”
Channel 14 journalist Shimon Riklin responded to the report by stating: “The IDF never wanted to draft Chareidim. There is not one senior IDF official in the past or present who doesn’t say this in personal conversations. But senior IDF officials will not interfere with the campaign of the left/Supreme Court to topple the right-wing government using this argument. The moment a left-wing government would arise, no one would say a word about recruiting Chareidim.”
Chareidi journalist Sari Roth wrote that after the Attorney-General and Supreme Court ruled that Chareidim must be enlisted and yeshivah budgets revoked, a Chareidi avreich called the enlistment center and asked what he should do since he no longer has an exemption to the army. The soldier who answered the phone said he shouldn’t do anything and should just wait until he receives an order to enlist. The avreich responded: “I shouldn’t come now to enlist?” The soldier responded that that’s not possible and he has to wait until he’s called in to be evaluated.
Meanwhile, despite the fact that he’s hasn’t received any order and no order seems imminent, he hasn’t received a kollel stipend in two months.
And this is not an isolated story. Right now there are about 66,000 avreichim and yeshivah bochurim who no longer have army exemptions but haven’t received any orders from the IDF. Despite this, their stipends have been halted.
