Knesset committee moves to cut men’s IDF service to 30 months

A plan to shorten the mandatory army service for men from 32 to 30 months was approved by the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday, putting it on track to being signed into law.

The proposed amendment will now move to the Knesset plenum, where it must pass second and third readings before it can become law. If accepted, the shortened service time would go into effect beginning in 2020.

It is the second cut to service requirements proposed in recent years. Beginning in July 2015, male soldiers had their required service time decreased from 36 to 32 months, as part of the army’s attempts to streamline. Neither the current bill nor the previous one affects the mandatory service for women, who serve for two years unless they’ve volunteered for units that require an extended service.

According to army forecasts, both the current drop to 32 months and the further decrease to 30 will result in a noticeable reduction in the number of male soldiers serving in the IDF in the coming years.

Figures presented by the IDF’s Manpower Directorate last month showed a drop in many crucial positions as a result of the new 32-month service, including in the number of combat soldiers, drivers, soldiers in cyber units and officers.

Yet Brig. Gen. Eran Shani, head of human resources in the Manpower Directorate, assured the committee members that Israel’s security would not be affected by the decrease in the overall number of conscripted soldiers, as the army’s total fighting force is more than two-thirds reservists.

“Wars are decided by the reserves, not by the standing army,” Shani told the committee last month.

“The army would be happy to have soldiers… but there are other things the country needs,” he said.

Committee members Amir Ohana and Rachel Azaria, from Likud and Kulanu, respectively, praised the measure, noting its potentially positive influence on the Israeli economy as more people would join the workforce, as well as its immediate impact on individual soldiers.

“These are good tidings for the Israeli market. An early release to the workforce will strengthen the market and will help with the State of Israel’s economic challenges,” Azaria said in a statement.

“This is good news for those serving and for Israeli society — and it is without harming the security of the nation,” Ohana said.

However, though the legislation has advanced, it was not without criticism.

Throughout the debate on the topic, committee member MK Eyal Ben-Reuven (Zionist Union), a former IDF general, expressed reservations at approving such a bill when the army’s General Staff has yet to conduct a thorough investigation into its full ramifications.

“Without proper staff-level work by the IDF that defines what it wants and what it needs for the years in question, it’s not right to pass this law now,” Ben-Reuven said during a discussion on the issue last month.