Likud MK Amit Halevi challenged the flawed assumptions held by the IDF’s senior leadership, accused top generals of involvement in politics, and said that years of mismanagement of the reserve system—not a lack of manpower—have created the shortage of combat soldiers.

Speaking in an interview with Kol Chai on Tuesday, Halevi said: “After four years on the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, I’ve reached a simple conclusion: the IDF Chief of Staff should focus exclusively on preparing the army for victory. Political involvement, writing letters to the media, and generals who see themselves as social engineers are what led to the disasters we experienced and lie at the heart of the October 7 failure.”

He added that the IDF lacks a coherent strategy for achieving victory. “I’ve repeatedly asked the IDF during committee meetings to present its plan for victory. To this day, no such plan has been presented to the cabinet. Instead of developing operational concepts that don’t lead to victory and writing public letters, the Chief of Staff should improve the army’s military strategy and establish three additional combat brigades.”

Halevi also presented data on IDF personnel management, shattering the claim that drafting bnei yeshivos is the only way to address the shortage of combat soldiers.

He said that the data shows that the IDF does not suffer an overall soldier shortage, pointing to the surplus of “jobniks”—soldiers serving in non-combat roles. He explained that although the number of military-age recruits grows each year, the IDF fails to channel enough of them into combat units, instead assigning large numbers to combat-support and administrative roles.

“The shortage of 12,000 soldiers exists only in frontline combat brigades because of the expansion of operations in Syria and Lebanon,” he clarified. “The army needs to establish stricter profile standards and stop allowing soldiers to avoid combat service.”

Halevi also blamed shortcomings in the reserve system on ex-prime minister Ehud Barak’s “small and smart army” doctrine. In accordance with Barak’s policy, dozens of brigades were closed, and about 100,000 reserve soldiers were discharged from the system. When the war broke out, the military was unable to identify or locate many of them because of changes to computer systems and unit structures.

“The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee demanded that they be brought back into service,” he said. “In practice, only 15,000 of those 100,000 reservists were recalled. Instead of bringing back the remaining 85,000 trained combat soldiers, the public is being told there is a manpower shortage.”

Earlier this month, Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, the Rosh Mechina of the Bnei Dovid mechina in Eli, voice similiar criticism, exposing the IDF’s lies that the shortage of combat soldiers is attributable to the low enlistment rate among Chareidim.

It should also be noted that after the October 7 massacre, at least 4,000 Chareidim who wanted to enlist in the IDF were rejected. In addition, many Chareidim who had previously served in the military and volunteered for duty after October 7 were not called up.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)