It Will Take Years to Repair the Damage to the IDF – And We Must Start Today | INSS
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Home Posts It Will Take Years to Repair the Damage to the IDF – And We Must Start Today

It Will Take Years to Repair the Damage to the IDF – And We Must Start Today
Tamir Hayman
1 August, 2023
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With much said in recent days about the fitness of the IDF, I would like briefly to put things in order. In short: a sword lies on the neck of the IDF as the people's army, and we must understand this already. The sword is in the form of the proposed conscription law and the Basic Law on Torah studies, which if advanced in the next Knesset session, will fast track the beginning of the end of the people's army. This is in the wake of the unprecedented and severe crisis in the IDF, which is already materializing before our eyes, even without these two laws.

And now a concise elaboration: the damage to the IDF is divided into three levels. In the short term, the damage is mainly to the cohesion of the army units. The IDF was thrown into the political arena. The polarization in Israeli society has become a source of genuine bitterness, has entered the IDF, and created an unprecedented and impossible situation.

In the medium term, the damage will be to fitness. Over time, as more people do not report for duty, they lose capabilities. This cannot be measured today. If they say today that fitness has not been harmed, I believe it. If the current trends continue and in a few months they say that fitness has not been harmed, I will not believe it.

In the long term, the most serious damage is to the motivation to enlist. This damage concerns the value critical to the quality and identity of the IDF – the motivation to volunteer and serve. One can only imagine how the situation will deteriorate further if laws such as the conscription law and the Basic Law for Torah studies are also passed.

The bottom line: the damage to the IDF is partly irreparable in the coming years. If the judicial overhaul is buried, a portion of the public will blame it on the "mutiny in the army." If the legislation moves forward, then what we are now experiencing will become even more extreme. One way or another, it seems that before our eyes the IDF that we knew will have changed forever. The way to stop the drift is to do it now, not tomorrow. Stop the childish and unconstructive discourse of "who is to blame," "who is right," and "who started," and save the people's army. Here, the responsibility lies entirely with the cabinet, the government, and the head of the government. The healing must begin today.

Topics: Military and Strategic Affairs, The Judicial Overhaul: The Military Dimension, “The judicial revolution”
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  • Research

    • Topics
      • Israel and the Global Powers
      • Israel-United States Relations
      • Glazer Israel-China Policy Center
      • Russia
      • Europe
      • Iran and the Shi'ite Axis
      • Iran
      • Lebanon and Hezbollah
      • Syria
      • Yemen and the Houthi Movement
      • Iraq and the Iraqi Shiite Militias
      • Conflict to Agreements
      • Israeli-Palestinian Relations
      • Hamas and the Gaza Strip
      • Peace Agreements and Normalization in the Middle East
      • Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States
      • Turkey
      • Egypt
      • Jordan
      • Israel’s National Security Policy
      • Military and Strategic Affairs
      • Societal Resilience and the Israeli Society
      • Jewish-Arab Relations in Israel
      • Climate, Infrastructure and Energy
      • Terrorism and Low Intensity Conflict
      • Cross-Arena Research
      • Data Analytics Center
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      • Perceptions about Jews and Israel in the Arab-Muslim World and Their Impact on the West
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