Gallant picks former air force chief to lead Haredi IDF recruitment efforts – report

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has reportedly appointed a point man to work on the recruitment and integration of members of the Haredi community into the Israel Defense Forces.

The Kan public broadcaster says Gallant has picked a former commander of the Israeli Air Force, Maj. Gen. (res.) Eliezer Shkedi, to take on the role.

Shkedi worked to recruit Haredi men into the air force when it was under his command.

Haredi women and male yeshiva students are generally exempt from military service due to controversial longstanding arrangements.

In 2017, the High Court of Justice invalidated the legal exemption and ordered the government to pass a new conscription law. The government has since been unable to agree on legislation, repeatedly extending the non-conscription policy, while Haredi politicians have sought to pass legislation cementing the exemptions.

Many Haredim believe that studying the Torah helps protect the Jewish people and even the state, and that serving time in the army would dilute adherence to their strict ways of life and lead impressionable members of the community astray.

Among non-Haredi Jews, this is widely perceived as draft-dodging by a group that refuses to integrate into mainstream society.

Many of those who do draft into the military and are counted in statistics as Haredi recruits have actually left the ultra-Orthodox world or are from the less stringent streams.

The Hamas attack and subsequent war with its massive mobilization of reservists has led commentators to note that a new law exempting members of Haredi society seems increasingly unlikely.