(Bloomberg) -- Yoav Adomi has spent almost six months on army reserve duty since the start of Israel’s war with Hamas, leaving behind his wife, children and insurance-technology job in Tel Aviv.
As many as 350,000 of his fellow Israelis are in similar positions, putting family obligations, work and studies on hold to help wage the campaign in Gaza, or fend off aerial attacks from Iran-backed Hezbollah to the north.
Their burden exposes Israel’s struggle to boost the ranks of the armed forces while preventing a shortage of workers from harming the economy, all while resentment brews over resistance by the ultra-Orthodox community to heed the call to national service.
With about 170,000 active personnel out of a population of 10 million, Israel’s army is large by global standards. But it’s still too small to cope with today’s threats.
That was evident on Oct. 7, when waves of Hamas militants broke through the lightly guarded border with Gaza and embarked on a deadly rampage, and is more clear now Israel is fighting a protracted war on numerous fronts almost a year later. The military’s once-proud slogan ‘small and smart’ — with hi-tech advances favored over manpower — now looks outdated.
“It’s clear that it’s not really sustainable and that a change is needed,” said Adomi, 44, who is looking at another two-month stint in the reserves this fall. “There are too few shoulders carrying the stretcher.”
The shortage of Israeli troops has focused attention on members of the ultra-Orthodox community, who make up about 13% of the population and largely don’t fight. Israel’s Supreme Court ruled in June that the long-standing waiver be removed so they could help resolve the situation, a divisive issue that’s led to protests.
Israeli public support for the war remains strong, and the need for military reinforcements shows no sign of ending. Efforts by the US, Qatar and Egypt to persuade Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration and Hamas leadership to agree to a cease-fire have been stalled for months. Hezbollah has said it won’t stop persistent rocket fire from across the Lebanese border while the Gaza conflict continues, and pockets of other militant groups represent an additional threat.
The burden is felt by employers as well as the reservists themselves, as businesses are forced to go with reduced workforces. This contributed last year to a decline in economic growth to 2% — almost half the rate expected by the finance ministry prior to the outbreak of the war — with a further slowdown to 1.1% anticipated for 2024.
Menashe Tamir, owner of Eshet Eilon Industries Ltd., an agricultural-equipment developer in Kibbutz Eilon, found himself struggling to fill gaps when staff including his two top managers — who are also his sons — were summoned to the reserves when the war broke out. They both served almost 180 days.
“We had to stand in for them and do what they do,” said Tamir. “Of course it slows things, it’s not as efficient.”
Evolving Policy
Israeli policy regarding military manpower began as a quest for a “people’s army,” where Jewish immigrants from Europe and across the Middle East could be melded into a single identity.
Citizens were drafted at the age of 18 for up to three years before joining the reserve army, called up for several weeks a year for training or for guarding and patrol work.
As military technology improved and the population grew, the need for a universal draft became less urgent and the criteria for service was eased. That also made sense financially, as defense spending ballooned to above 20% of gross domestic product in the 1970s and early 1980s, putting huge strain on the economy and fueling inflation.
Arabs, who make up about 20% of the population, have always been exempted and there’s been little public pressure for that to change. Yet at a time of war, the waiver enjoyed by ultra-Orthodox Jews has become a source of social tension.
When Israel was formed in 1948, ultra-Orthodox men who studied in religious seminaries, a few hundred in number, were exempted. Since then, the group has grown, and there are an estimated 60,000 ultra-Orthodox men of draft age who haven’t served in the army.
Secular society, as well as many modern-Orthodox Israelis, are now loudly demanding that the Haredim — as they are known — share the burden. The resentment has been fueled by the hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries among combat soldiers serving in Gaza.
“You need to draft at least some of them,” said Yagil Henkin, a military historian and fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security. “There are way too few soldiers sharing the burden.”
Hundreds of demonstrators have gathered outside army offices — sometimes scuffling with police — to prevent access to ultra-Orthodox men who try and join up.
“This is something that we will fight against, and we’ll bring the country to a standstill,” Yitzhak Deri, one of the demonstrators, said in a TV interview. “The ultra-Orthodox should not be in the army. The army is secular, they are heretics.”
Since mass ultra-Orthodox conscription doesn’t appear to be an easy solution, the army has taken more short-term steps to swell numbers. These include initiating a draft law to extend army service by several months, as well as regulations that would raise the age limit for call ups.
Hundreds of former combat soldiers, who are already past that age limit, have volunteered for duty.
They include Yoaz Hendel, 49, a former minister of communications, who has helped organize a new battalion of former special forces soldiers, mostly in their 40s and 50s.
While they may not be in as good a shape as they were in their twenties, they are still fit enough to carry out missions and have successfully fought for several months in Gaza, Hendel said.
“We need to make sure that our borders are safe enough and we know how to protect the people of Israel,” he said. “There is no real other solutions than to have boots on the ground.”
--With assistance from Thomas Hall.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
