MK: Most Haredi men who volunteered for IDF after Oct. 7 rejected as unsuitable, not because they’re unneeded

Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

MK Sharon Nir attends a special conference on women's heroism in the war, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, February 13, 2024 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
MK Sharon Nir attends a special conference on women's heroism in the war, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, February 13, 2024 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Rebutting United Torah Judaism leader Yitzhak Goldknopf’s claim that the IDF does not need or want Haredi conscripts, Yisrael Beytenu MK Sharon Nir tweets that most of the ultra-Orthodox men who volunteered for military service following October 7 were rejected due to unsuitability and not because there is no manpower shortage.

Addressing an event in Bnei Brak yesterday evening, Goldknopf claimed that “four thousand Haredim asked to enlist since the beginning of the year — though that’s not good to hear — but you ruled out 3,300 of them. You don’t want us and you don’t need us.”

Despite IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi stating that there is a “definite need” for Haredi soldiers, ultra-Orthodox politicians have long argued that the army does not want them — with one UTJ lawmaker going so far as to tell The Times of Israel earlier this year that he believed there was “a surplus of manpower.”

“Is it true that, as we are being told… that 4,000 Haredim asked to enlist in the IDF, but were not accepted,” Nir asks. She writes that military representatives confirmed part of Goldknopf’s claim to members of the Knesset Subcommittee for Personnel Affairs in the IDF, but Goldknopf’s interpretation was incorrect.

The statistics were provided to lawmakers at a meeting that was closed to the press.

According to Nir, 4,000 Haredim ages 26-50 did attempt to volunteer through the so-called Shlav Bet track, in which older people are put through two weeks of basic training before being sent to serve in noncombat roles.

“The IDF, which is hungry for manpower, seriously examined the numbers and found that only 1,300 of them were relevant for Shlav Bet,” she tweets. “The rest were found to be unsuitable,” with many suffering from physical and psychological issues that prevented their enlistment.

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