Israel’s military manpower crisis is deepening. IDF Personnel Administration representatives at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee's Manpower Subcommittee revealed Wednesday morning that approximately 600 career personnel, including senior officers and professional non-commissioned officers, have submitted requests for early retirement.
"There were those whose retirement we postponed throughout the war because of their necessity, simply because there are no replacements for them," IDF officials said during the discussion
They added that “in any case, 85% of IDF career soldiers retire at the rank of lieutenant colonel or below.”
Just two months ago, Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa, head of the IDF's Personnel Administration, issued a rare warning to the Knesset State Control Committee: “Let me be clear, career soldiers are calling and asking if they can resign in the middle of a war. You should be deeply concerned."
Bar Kalifa made the comments following the Supreme Court’s recent ruling striking down pension supplements for career officers.
He also addressed the broader issue of the IDF’s manpower shortage amid the ongoing exemption from military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews, while IDF forces began maneuvering in Gaza City. He stressed that the army “needs another 12,000 soldiers."
“In the meantime,” he explained, “Haredi leadership is escalating its rhetoric, and their protests are draining resources from both the IDF and the police.”
He shared that a reserve battalion commander who's already completed his sixth round called upon him to “draft the Haredim, don’t stop pushing for it.”
Bar Kalifa continued: “We now have more than 17,000 draft dodgers. Dodging the draft has become the norm,” adding, “there’s an army of lawyers fraudulently securing exemptions for draft dodgers.”