Requests received by Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech reveal that candidates slated to serve in combat units were informed only on the day of their enlistment that the Shin Bet opposed their serving in the IDF, Arutz Sheva reported on Thursday.

The office of Deputy Knesset Speaker MK Limor Son Har-Melech has recently received appeals from young men who completed all stages of screening and preparation for combat service, with some even slated for elite IDF units, but who arrived at the induction center on their enlistment day and were informed only as they were about to board the buses that the Shin Bet opposed their serving in the military.

The appeals came from the young men and their families, who described how, after many months of preparation and high motivation for meaningful service, their path into the IDF was abruptly blocked at the induction center itself.

Following the findings, Son Har-Melech sent an urgent letter to Defense Minister Yisrael Katz, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman MK Boaz Bismuth, and Shin Bet Director David Zini, asking them to combat the trend, investigate the cases in question, and examine the regulations under which the enlistments were prevented.

In her letter, Son Har-Melech described the conduct as “a serious and alarming escalation,” pointing to a change from previous cases handled by her office.

“From previous appeals received by my office, we were familiar with cases in which candidates for military service encountered a restriction at earlier stages, rather than at the induction center. We are now being exposed to a situation in which young men go through the enlistment process, prepare for their service, arrive at the induction center on the designated day, and only there, at the last moment, are prevented from boarding the buses.”

“It is difficult to describe the magnitude of the devastation experienced by young men who prepared themselves for months and years to fight for the State of Israel, only to discover on enlistment day that the country they sought to defend will not even allow them to put on a uniform.”

She said the decisions are particularly serious given the IDF’s manpower shortage. “As a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, we hear time and again from IDF commanders about the manpower shortage and the heavy burden placed on combat soldiers. Faced with this reality stand outstanding young men, driven by a sense of mission, physically fit and with sky-high motivation, who ask for one thing: to enlist, fight and contribute to Am Yisrael and the security of the state.”

“If there are concrete allegations against any of the candidates for service, they must be substantiated, specific and subject to examination. We cannot accept a situation in which a vague decision by a security agency determines a young man’s future, prevents him from performing meaningful service and stains his reputation, without giving him the opportunity to understand what is being held against him and respond to the allegations.”

“I request your immediate intervention to examine the cases brought before us, clarify the criteria on which decisions of this kind are based, and reconsider the very policy that allows highly motivated young men to be prevented from enlisting in the IDF in this manner. These young men want to fight for the country. It is our duty to open the door for them, not close it in their faces.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)