Former prime minister Naftali Bennett warned on Tuesday that the IDF would collapse due to a lack of manpower if haredim (ultra-Orthodox) are not drafted during the next government’s term, following the October elections.
“[Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu warns of security threats, but he himself is leading the most serious threat of all: mass draft evasion and the collapse of the IDF,” Bennett said.
He made the remarks at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, where families of October 7 victims built a sukkah for the holiday called the “Sukkah of Failure.”
Bennett’s B’Yachad party is one of the leading parties in the opposition bloc seeking to replace Netanyahu in the October elections.
“I am here today at Hostages Square, which symbolizes the terrible failure of the October 7 government, which has yet to be investigated. Everyone who was part of this failure must immediately step down,” Bennett said.
Bennett says he will form an October 7 commission of inquiry in the next government
The former prime minister has vowed that, if he is part of the next government, he will seek to establish a state commission of inquiry to investigate the government’s failures surrounding October 7.“Everyone is focused on the warnings Netanyahu ignored before October 7, but when the next disaster happens, no one will be able to say they were not warned about this one.”
“The IDF is on the verge of collapse. The chief of staff has raised 10 red flags, saying the IDF is short 20,000 combat soldiers, but Netanyahu is ignoring them and dismantling the IDF,” he added.
Bennett said that he has gone into the field and spoken with officers and soldiers who told him that the shortage of combat soldiers “is already costing us soldiers’ lives.”
“They say soldiers are being wounded and killed by drones because there are not enough observers and snipers to protect them. The long reserve-duty rotations are wearing down the soldiers’ operational readiness, and that too is costing us casualties,” he noted.
Bennett also said that during combat, “they are forced to abandon positions they have already captured because there is no one to hold the ground, and then they have to recapture them at the cost of bloodshed.”
“Voting for the draft-evasion coalition is a direct vote against IDF soldiers and against those who serve.
Bennett: 'We will enlist everyone'
“We will enlist everyone, stop funding draft evaders, and strengthen the IDF,” he added.
The haredi parties – Shas and United Torah Judaism – have encouraged Netanayhu’s coalition to advance legislation that critics argue would not increase haredi enlistment.
The haredi parties boycotted coalition voting during the government’s term, stating that they would not cooperate with Netanyahu’s coalition until there was advancement with the contentious legislation they had been pushing for.
The IDF has repeatedly warned of an urgent manpower shortage after three years of war.
In March, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir said the IDF could soon collapse if no solution was found for the manpower shortage.
Bennett has drawn a red line against forming a coalition with the haredi parties, and called for reversing contentious haredi-backed legislation passed by the outgoing government.
He has also taken a hardline stance toward haredi conscription to the IDF, as his party’s platform seeks to cut all state funding for anyone evading military service and bar any exemptions from the IDF.
He has also developed a plan to reform Israel’s education system, proposing that a government led by him would cut state funding to haredi educational institutions that do not teach core curriculum studies.