IDF chief again stresses army’s need for more troops amid gov’t effort to exempt Haredi yeshiva students

By Emanuel Fabian

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8 July 2026, 7:33 pm

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Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir again stresses that the military needs more troops for the missions it has been tasked with by the government.

“We must significantly expand the ranks of the IDF so that it can meet all the missions assigned to it. The responsibility rests with all of us — the IDF needs everyone,” he says at a ceremony at Israel’s National Security College.

“We must not exempt ourselves from the burden of the commandment to defend the state, it is an operational necessity and a Zionist and moral duty,” Zamir adds.