Haredi lawmaker says IDF needs more troops

Jerusalem Affairs Minister Meir Porush, of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, says the Israel Defense Forces needs more troops “to be able to fulfill its missions” and to uphold its operations.

Porush, whose party has long demanded legislation exempting members of the ultra-Orthodox community from military service, speaks a day after the Defense Ministry announced plans to draft some 1,300 service members in March, several months earlier than planned.

He notes that 850 of the early recruits will come from pre-army and community service programs, and another 450 from yeshiva programs that combine Torah study and military service.

According to a report in the Haaretz daily, the number of yeshiva students being enlisted early originally stood at 150 but was raised to 450 after protests from parents and program directors, who said the large difference in yeshiva numbers and pre-army and community service programs meant the burden was being shared unequally.