In a first, ultra-Orthodox teens complete trial for paratroopers brigade
Defense Ministry hails integration program that will see 45 youths drafted into the elite unit later this month
For the first time, some 45 teenagers from the ultra-Orthodox community successfully completed selection trial for entry into the IDF’s elite paratrooper unit, the Defense Ministry announced on Thursday.
The program, dubbed “Haredim to the Paratroopers,” included workshops, Krav Maga classes, mental exercises and lectures. The teenagers also participated in some physical exercises with actual paratroopers.
The move has been hailed as a success in integrating the youths from a community, which has traditionally been exempt from military service.
Those who passed the selection, known in Hebrew as a gibush, will be drafted into the brigade later this month, into a program that will include four months of basic training, following by four months of more advanced combat training.
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Thursday that the teenagers’ eventual integration into the military was “another stepping stone” for the ultra-Orthodox community, hundreds of members of whom already serve in army’s various units, on active and reserve duty.
The Defense Ministry said it will continue to invest in efforts to further draft members of the haredi community into the army “while protecting their dignity and faith.”
“The success of the trial is best response to those who oppose [the drafting of ultra-Orthodox soldiers] and who try to make life difficult for those who want to serve their country and protect it,” the ministry said,
Many in the ultra-Orthodox community shun the mandatory military service that applies to most Israelis, and the community has historically enjoyed blanket exemptions in favor of religious seminary studies.
Reforms passed in the Knesset in 2014 — later rolled back in 2015 — sought to do away with the exemptions and gradually increase ultra-Orthodox recruitment.
Although many Haredi men have joined the IDF, their service is often reviled by other members of the community, leading to incidents of assault on ultra-Orthodox soldiers.
Stuart Winer contributed to this report.