Daily Briefing Jan. 8: Day 460 – IDF needs Haredi soldiers, but can it accommodate them?

Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today’s episode.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara filed the state’s response to High Court petitions on Haredi military enlistment, stating that there is no limit on the numbers of ultra-Orthodox men recruited into the Israel Defense Forces from mid-2026. This comes as coalition members have often insisted that the IDF is not capable of absorbing the estimated 70,000 Haredi young men currently eligible for service. We dive into the divisive issue and why the army needs more soldiers.

The IDF said that this past week, 338 members of the ultra-Orthodox community enlisted in the military for mandatory service — 211 combat soldiers and 127 combat support. We hear the breakdown of numbers and also how the army said it had completed sending out a wave of 7,000 draft orders to members of the ultra-Orthodox community, after 3,000 were sent out over the summer. What have been the results so far?

We learn about the ongoing manhunt in the West Bank after the fatal shooting on Monday near the Jewish settlement of Kedumim. The shooting attack, which targeted a bus and two cars, occurred inside the Palestinian village of al-Funduq, which straddles a major artery used by thousands of Israelis and Palestinian drivers daily.

And finally we discuss the deployment of the IDF in the Gaza Strip and in southern Lebanon, among efforts by US envoy Amos Hochstein to lengthen the 60-day truce with Hezbollah.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Survey: Public support for conscripting ultra-Orthodox has surged throughout war

First 50 ultra-Orthodox soldiers drafted to IDF’s new Haredi brigade

Soldier killed fighting in Gaza as IDF withdraws brigade from northern Strip

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ben Wallick.

Check out yesterday’s Daily Briefing episode here: