Lapid: Israel facing security disaster, must immediately draft ultra-Orthodox, fight ‘Jewish terrorism’

By Ariela Karmel

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26 March 2026, 9:04 pm

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Ariela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid leads a Yesh Atid faction meeting at the Knesset on March 23, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid warns that Israel is facing another security disaster after IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir reportedly raised “10 red flags” during a cabinet meeting, cautioning that the military could soon collapse under mounting operational demands and a deepening manpower shortage.

“The chief of staff laid out before the cabinet a whole series of threats, most of which cannot be detailed on camera, but the bottom line is this: the government is sending the army into a multi-front war without a strategy, without sufficient resources, and with too few soldiers,” Lapid says during a press conference.

“This time, the government will not be able to say, ‘I didn’t know.’ This is the chief of staff they appointed, and they will not be able to politicize him and shift the blame onto him,” Lapid says, adding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be able to say, “I am not responsible.”

The Yesh Atid leader calls on the government to “stop its cowardice” and “immediately halt all funding to ultra-Orthodox draft evaders, send the military police after deserters, and draft the ultra-Orthodox without hesitation.”

Noting that Zamir warned that he is being forced to deploy more and more of his limited forces to the West Bank due to the rise in violent settler attacks, Lapid says the government “must fight Jewish terrorism with every available means.”

He further calls on the government to “strip authority” from far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, “who openly supports Jewish terrorists,” and to “deploy all enforcement capabilities.”

“For 13 years, I have been a member of security cabinets and the most sensitive security forums of the State of Israel,” Lapid notes, warning that “in all those 13 years, I do not recall a warning as severe as the one delivered last night.”